She is My Revenge
by sankage
Summary: It wasn't just the Black Pearl, or one's twisted, hairy, right leg that was lost that night off the coast of Hispaniola. There was another, precious to them both. Now, she and Barbossa wanted the same thing - revenge. Sequel to She's Mine This Time.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **"The Pirates of theCaribbean movie series is completely owned by Disney and its writers. The following story is merely a fan fiction with which the author (your's truly) had gained nothing in the making of."

**A/N**: This is my sequel to my fanfic, "She's Mine This Time". Some scenes, dialogues, lines, are added to fit the OC in the story of the 4th movie. And if ever some of the lines that were from the movie seemed different or wrong, I apologize since I have written it base from what I heard and from what I found online.

**(Please Read)**:The following story contains major spoilers from the 4th installment, Pirates of theCaribbean: On Stranger Tides. I suggest those who haven't watched the film to watch it before venturing to read this fan fiction.

* * *

><p><strong>~ She is My Revenge ~<strong>

_..._

_"Revenge is a confession of pain."  
>- Latin proverb<em>

_"Revenge is a dish best served cold."  
>- Anonymous<em>

_..._

* * *

><p><strong>- Chapter 1 -<strong>

He looked at himself from head to toe in front of the full-body mirror. Anyone who knows of him and see him that way would surely be shock.

A decorated bicorne hat in the Naval fashion was placed atop his head, which was adorned by that curly, powdered white wig that hung over his shoulders. His face was white with face powder and his lips were pink with lipstick, while having that fake mole on his cheek. To complete his attire was his Navy-styled uniform which include a white cravat, blue waistcoat with gold trimmings, white gloves and a dark blue coat with gold trimmings and crimson cuffs.

With such a decent look, though, he still wore his long, auburn hair loose, (hidden in his wig), and left his beard still scraggly and untrimmed. But there was this one sight in the mirror that may cause more questions: a peg leg.

Having lost his right leg, he sported the peg leg in place of his right shin and foot, while having a wooden crutch under his left arm for balance, fashioned by an admiralty carpenter.

With his wife and everything planned in their minds, he was ready to face Jack Sparrow again. But first, there was a matter to attend to about the trial at the _Old Bailey_ courthouse for piracy.

He turned to the servant waiting patiently by one corner of the room.

"Tell me lady I be waitin' fer her down stairs," he said.

The servant bowed and left.

Hector Barbossa once again looked back to his reflection.

"It begins," he said more to himself.

* * *

><p>She stood by the window, looking out to the busy streets ofLondonin the afternoon.<p>

Many were going on their way to the _Old Bailey_ courthouse for piracy. Rumors that a pirate was to be on trial there only to be hanged this afternoon. Rumors say that the pirate was known as the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow.

She scoffed at the rumor.

These people had never seen how and what Jack Sparrow is like in person. She had seen the prisoner herself and had found out that the court was mistaken and that the rumors were false. The pirate currently in jail was not Jack Sparrow but one Joshamee Gibbs who's only innocence in the entire thing was being mistaken for Jack Sparrow.

Although, there was one rumor that was true. Jack Sparrow was in fact in London at the moment. And in all the other rumors circling around it, this was the only one that's true. She should now about it, because it was she who sought out evidence if the rumors were all true or not.

That's one of her talents - being a very reliable informant.

She never knew she had it in her. This talent had been first discovered when Cutler Beckett blackmailed her to do his bidding. When she finally had herself free of the man, she harnessed this talent by always having a keen ear on the whereabouts of a certain Jack Sparrow. She had used this talent for a many other things, but since she joined the rescue crew in saving Jack from the Locker, she never dared using that talent of her's again. But never did it came to mind that she would come to use it again while serving under the Crown.

This had somehow earned some respect for her with the Prime Minister and Lord Carteret. Having outdone five of their best informants wasn't just a small thing. But what added more to that talent was her utter discretion in doing her work.

She stepped away from the window and took the black hooded cloak that hung on the headrest of a nearby chair. The very moment she had finished putting it on, the door of the room opened to reveal a servant wearing a white powdered wig.

"Lady Barbossa," the servant bowed as he addressed her, then looked up again. "The Captain had sent for me. He wished to inform you that he'll be waiting down stairs."

She only nodded for an answer as the servant left the room, as quickly as he appeared.

_'Lady Barbossa'_, yes. That was what she's known now. No longer was she Miss Olivia Gale, but Mrs. Olivia Barbossa, wife to Captain Barbossa with whom the King himself gave permission, with confidence, of leading the expedition in search for the Fountain of Youth.

It had been a few years back since it all began.

After months of being at sea, Hector came back to Tia Dalma's old shack only to find Olivia having bore him a son.

He was both surprised, and happy. But was also worried on how was she able to go by her pregnancy and/or her childbirth. This was one of the reasons why Barbossa was glad he had decided to leave a handful of the crew to stay with Olivia.

When she asked about Gibbs, all that she found out was that Barbossa found that Gibbs was of no use at all, and decided to leave the seasoned sailor on a longboat to row back to Tortuga. But as for the other details, she was not told, and she didn't dare ask more.

Taking Olivia and their son, along with the four (Pintel, Ragetti, Marty and Cotton), Barbossa sailed for Shipwreck Cove, wanting for Olivia to stay there to better look after their son. Since it was unlikely that she'll come with him searching for the Fountain at such circumstances. But since it was Shipwreck Cove, he took Pintel, Ragetti, Marty and Cotton to sail with him, saying that he needed all the hands he could have.

Barbossa at that time still hadn't given up hunting for Jack, and went on for quite some time. He divided his time in search and for his family. Six months at sea, six months at Shipwreck Cove. But he soon grew tired of this when his search for Sparrow went in a rather slow pace.

He finally decided to ask Olivia to come aboard with him, help him search for any such information about the misfit, and to have their son along as well. Barbossa wanted his son to be familiar with life at sea and on board a ship even at such a very young age, and Olivia was not one to contest that.

Victor had already started walking and talking, and still very young, by the time they had set sail, and they found that the boy rather enjoyed being aboard a ship.

As they have decided to gather up more information about the Fountain more first before knowing Jack's whereabouts, Barbossa's want for it had lessened.

The crew would of course want for a fair share, and Barbossa, being one who knows what the Code says about it, and one who respects the Code, (in his own way), would not deny that fair share from the crew. Unfortunately the Profane Ritual was too troublesome.

Two silver chalices aboard the _Santiago_, Ponce de León's ship, a mermaid's tear and finally water from the Fountain.

The problem was, they need to know the locations to acquire those items. As they don't have a map, what good were those information for? And the idea about the sacrifice didn't help much. Since one would have to continue drinking from the Fountain, that would mean to continue hunting for mermaids, (like you'd live each time you do), and looking for blokes who can be the sacrifice to have added years of life.

Such is the prize for immortality, and since Olivia had never had interest on the Fountain in the first place, she had tried to discourage Barbossa more than once.

One afternoon, he finally gave in.

But if Olivia thought they can finally settle in peace and rear their child without too much adventure at sea, she was wrong. No one could have foretold what happened that night off the coast of Hispaniola. Many lives were taken, and loses happened. The _Pearl_, a right leg, and something far more precious and priceless to them both.

It took some more patience with time before they got to where they were at the moment. And now, the time has come.

Olivia had just taken the last few steps at the stairs and had walked off toward her husband and had come to a standstill in front of him.

"The trial be startin' by now," Barbossa said to her. "Make certain they don't get to shore."

"Nothing will stand in my way," she replied.

With that, Barbossa raised a hand to place it softly to his wife's cheek. She was a little surprised by the sudden contact, but she gave in to the touch and sighed, closing her eyes as she placed her own hand on his. When she opened her eyes again, she dared not let her gaze off his.

"When was the last time I touched ye this way?" he asked, his expressions softened.

"Since our marriage, love," she answered.

"Then I be not much of a husband to ye, milady," he said. "For I fergot me duties."

She shook her head. "No. We had important matters to attend to, my love. Pleasure can come afterwards."

He smirked, then, holding up her hand to his lips, kissed it lightly. They shared a quick smile before going off, with Olivia covering her head with the hood of her cloak.

* * *

><p>Jack Sparrow finally emerged and signaled the driver of the carriage with a nod. When he disappeared inside the carriage, a nearby rider wearing a hooded cloak and who's face cannot be seen properly, mounted on a black horse, went over to the driver and they exchanged nods.<p>

The rider went off first before the carriage eventually moved.

Inside, Jack and Gibbs talked.

Jack had reassured Gibbs that he has paid the driver and that they were on their way to shore. Said that it was _"all part of the plan"_. Gibbs on the other hand shared with Jack what rumors he heard the past few years. The seasoned sailor said he had heard no news about the Black Pearl but he had heard that Jack was _"hell-bent to finding the Fountain of Youth"_. Said that there were rumors about Jack would be recruiting for a crew in London that night in a pub called _Captain's Daughter_. The latter part which Jack denied, saying that it wasn't true, but Gibbs defended himself saying that was what he heard.

Their conversation had then come to the point that perhaps an impostor was the cause of these rumors, but Jack thought it could be profitable for him if said impostor have a ship.

"I shall taste those waters, Master Gibbs," Jack said. "Mark my words."

Then suddenly, the carriage had come to a stop.

"Oh, short trip?" Jack said with a smile as he looked over Gibbs. He then went to open the doors, and stepped out, only to find muskets pointed at him and that the carriage was surrounded by British Royal Guards.

Gibbs, who had stopped short by the carriage door, said to Jack, "All part of the plan, yes?"

Turning around, Jack went over to his old First Mate but he was smacked on the head by a Royal Guard with the but of a musket. Gibbs caught Jack with both arms, as Jack answered the old sailors question with, "No."

As Jack was taken away inside St. Jame's Palace, the same hooded rider was there, watching silently. Then went off, entering the palace in another direction.

* * *

><p>Jack was dragged all the way inside the palace by two guards, brought to a wide room and chained to a chair. At the center of the room was a rectangular table filled with delicious food, and he was at least a meter away from the table. It was as if a mild kind of torture, if that was what intended. He had to drag the chair with him just to get close enough to the table. When he did, he took one cream puff from the nearest plate, then a secret door on the wall across him opened.<p>

He was too taken by surprise by the entrance of those men in white wigs and fine uniforms, that he had tossed the cream puff high enough for it to be stuck on the chandelier on the ceiling. As Jack took a glance toward the chandelier, King George the second took his place on a chair right across form Jack.

Standing beside the monarch's right was Henry Pelham, Prime Minister of Great Britain, and at the left was Lord John Carteret, Lord President of the Council. There were others standing around and behind the monarch, which do include the rider with a hooded cloak whom Jack noticed for the first time. But the only reason he noticed the hooded one was because it was a female, judging by the crimson dress she wore.

It was Lord Carteret who addressed Jack first.

"You are, Jack Sparrow."

Having his head tilted to one side, Jack took a moment before saying, "There should be a 'Captain' there somewhere."

"I have heard of you," said the King. "And you know who I am."

Another short moment of silent from the pirate. "Face looks familiar," he said. "Have I threatened you before?"

This was where the Prime Minister stepped in.

"You are in the presence of George Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Arch treasurer and prince elector of the holy Roman empire, King of Great Britain and Ireland. And of you."

Another short moment. "Doesn't ring a bell," said the pirate, shaking his head.

"I am informed," the King spoke again, "that you have come to London to procure a crew for your ship."

Jack held up a finger. "Vicious rumor. Not true." His voice sounded as though he would not want to have any further contest on the matter.

But the King took it differently. "Then you lied to me when you said you were Jack Sparrow."

"I _am_ Jack Sparrow," said the pirate, not certain for how long must he prove it. "But I'm not here to procure a crew. That is...someone else." Here he started to move his arm around as though he would be able to get out of his chains if he do so.

"Ah, someone else named Jack Sparrow." Again the King took it differently, as he addressed his men. "You've brought me the wrong wastrel. Find me the proper one and dispose of this" - pointed one finger to Jack - "impostor."

Here Jack shook his head. "No. Wait! Wait! Wait! Hang on a minute." He explained once more. "I'm Jack Sparrow, the one and only. And I am inLondon..." He trailed off at this sentence, then started moving his arms around again, making annoying noises with the chains. It was as if he was doing it on purpose.

"To procure a crew," the King said, adding up on the pirate's seemingly unfinished sentence. "To undertake the search for the Fountain..."

The monarch stopped, scowling slightly and said as he splayed his hands. "Will someone please remove these _infernal_ chains!"

Jack sighed with relief as two guards approached to do what the King ordered. "Come, come," he said, while the monarch placed his fingers to his ears. Meanwhile, the hooded woman from behind walked forward and over to Lord Carteret.

"My Lord," she said in a low tone, "I insist this man is kept chained."

Lord Carteret dismissed this. "With Royal Guards having surrounded us? Nothing to worry about."

"Ah! Lady Barbossa!" cried the Prime Minister. "I almost forgot you're here. Please give us light into this confusion. Prove to us that this man here" - gesturing a hand to Jack - "truly _is_ Jack Sparrow."

"Lady Barbossa?" said Jack almost to himself, finding himself looking at the hooded woman.

The woman nodded to the Prime Minister and slowly removed her hood, to reveal brunette hair tied up elegantly over her head. Her grayish eyes immediately met the pirate's dark ones.

"Hello Jack," said the woman. Who was none other than Olivia herself.

"Livvie?" was Jack's only reply.

"That is proof enough, Prime Minister," she said, looking over to the man he addressed. "This man here is Jack Sparrow."

"Are you certain?" asked the monarch.

"Yes, Sire," said Olivia with a slight curtsy. "He called me by a nickname he so dubbed me with back in the past."

"If you're here, where's dear old Hector?" asked Jack all of a sudden, suspicion was in his dark eyes.

Olivia looked over to the pirate. "You'll soon find out."

"We know you are in possession of a map," intervened the Prime Minister.

"So confiscate the map. Into the gallows with him!" said Lord Carteret in a slightly annoyed tone of voice.

"Have you a map?" asked the monarch to the pirate.

Olivia watched closely as Jack made off to put his hand into his coat, then stopped in the middle of it and froze. When Jack sat up straighter again, he said rather coolly, "No," with a shake of the head. Olivia frowned at this.

"Where is it?" asked the Prime Minister; the very same question Olivia wanted to ask herself.

"The truth?" Jack stood up. "I lost it. Quite recently in fact." He then walked around casually, looking down on the delicious delicacies on the table as though choosing which he would want to taste first.

"I have a report," started the monarch, leaning over to the table, "the Spanish has located the Fountain of Youth." Here the King started to raise his voice.

"I will not, have a melancholy, Spanish monarch, a Catholic, gain eternal life!" King George said all this while banging a clenched fist on the table, pausing short at the mention of 'a Catholic'.

Jack on the other hand just took a cherry with small substances of white cream from a nearby dessert and ate it.

"You do know the way to the Fountain?" asked the Prime Minister to the pirate, as the monarch stared at the mentioned pirate with bewilderment, probably realizing how much indeed he had not yet seen such a man having such odd mannerisms.

"Of course I do," answered Jack as he walked on toward one end of the table near the windows, taking a white napkin with him along the way. "Look at me!"

"You can guide an expedition," said Lord Carteret. It wasn't really a question and neither was a request.

Jack had just moved the chair in a particular position as he rested his right arm on its headrest. "With your permission, your highny," he said, with a pause, "you will providing then a ship" - he threw the napkin to the floor - "and a crew."

"And a captain," added the monarch, as he signaled a hand.

Prime Minister Henry Pelham then gestured with the cane he had in hand at the servants with white wigs by the double doors.

While the servants opened the doors, Jack had shared a look with Olivia, before both turned their gazes towards whomever it was entering. There was the sound of wood continuously tapping on the floor, along with what seemed to be a sound of a walking stick. It wasn't long before the figure came into room, bowed low to the monarch and stood up straighter.

It was none other than Hector Barbossa himself.

"Afternoon, Sire," he said to the King, as he slightly glared toward Jack's direction. "If I may be so bold," he spoke again as he walked over to where King George was still seated, "why is this man not in chains?" Clearly he was referring to Jack. "He must be manacled at once."

"At the center of my palace? Hardly," said the King, with great confidence and a little boast.

"Hector," greeted Jack with a smile, as he walked over toward Barbossa. "It's good to see a fellow pirate make good of himself."

"Pirate? Nay!" replied Barbossa. "Privateer," he corrected. "On a sanctioned mission under the authority" - he glanced at the monarch - "and protection of the Crown." Here he toyed with his wig with the fingers of his right hand, a smile on his face.

"As may be, but first..." Jack had both hands on the table and had gotten to a position where he stood just right across from Barbossa, the table as the only thing that separated them. "What has become of my beloved _Pearl_?"

On how Jack's voice changed slightly by the mention of the '_Pearl'_ didn't go by unnoticed by Olivia. Somehow it was mentioned with some feeling coming from deep within.

"I lost the _Pearl_, as I lost me leg!" answered Barbossa, placing his peg leg on the table with a thud, slightly startling the monarch. "Along with somethin' far more _priceless_."

"Lost the _Pearl_?" repeated Jack, there was anger in eyes and voice.

"Aye," confirmed the pirate-turned-privateer as he removed his peg leg off the table, taking his gaze off Jack. "Defended her mightily enough, but she be sunk, nonetheless."

Jack started to climb over to the table to have at it with Barbossa, being unable to contain himself for a minute there, but he was eventually stopped by two Red Coats. Olivia had walked over to her husband, feeling a little alarmed for a moment, but Barbossa kept her to stay in place just behind him with an arm.

"If that ship be properly sunk, you should have sunk with it," said Jack.

Barbossa said nothing, while Olivia was ready to say something, but she was unable to since here was where the monarch spoke again.

"Captain Barbossa, every second we tarry the Spanish out-distance us."

Jack just kept looking from the King George to Barbossa.

"I have every confidence that you will prevail in reward that you shall have the highest rank you so desire."

The privateer bowed with a satisfied smile. "Ah. To serve thus is suffice, Sire."

"You, sir, have stooped," said Jack as a response to what he was seeing. Here, the privateer simply looked up back to him with a smirk.

"How dare you," said Olivia with a glare. "You don't know what-"

But she was stopped by Barbossa before she was able to say more.

"Jack, our sands be all but run," the privateer said. "Where's the harm in joinin' the winnin' side? And you do meet a nicer class person."

Once again, Jack found his smile. "I understand everything." Then the smile disappeared. "'Cept that wig." And then it started.

Even with a number of guards around, Jack was able to escape the room. After having fought off the two guards that was holding him, then spoiling all the food on the table by stepping on it, and swung over using the chandelier, he got out without so much of a scratch while finally having taken a bite on the cream puff he had "put aside" moments ago.

Barbossa just watched in silence while fighting the need to roll his eyes, as he had seen so many stunts before that Sparrow pulled. He had grown tired of it a long time ago, but still it annoys him by how impressive it was done.

The privateer then met the King's gaze. "He escaped," said the monarch.

"Leave it to me, Sire," assured Barbossa, earning two thumbs up from the King. "Milady, come," he then addressed his wife as he held out a hand to her. "We have a need to talk."

The couple then excused themselves from the monarch with Barbossa bowing and Olivia doing a curtsy. The moment they were alone, walking through the halls, they spoke to each other.

Barbossa spoke first. "I was not able to hear much." He glanced to his wife. "What did Sparrow say?"

"Jack wasn't lying when he said he lost the map," replied Olivia. Her husband frowned at her. "I saw it in his eyes." This information had only elicited a wordless snarl from Barbossa.

"Map or not, Sparrow _will_ get to the Fountain," he declared, and he was sure of it.

"And what about us?" said Olivia, slight annoyance was n her voice. "We have to get Jack."

"An' how's that?" countered Barbossa. "The Royal Guards won't be able capture him."

Here Barbossa stopped, as though he remembered something. "Wait. There be one man that could help us." He looked toward his wife, as their gazes met. "The man whom Jack was last with."

Olivia removed her gaze form her husband's and looked out into the middle distance. "Gibbs." She raised her eyes to Barbossa once more.

"Aye," confirmed her husband.

"We're in luck, he's still alive and breathing in jail," she informed him. "I'll get him out tonight."

"Leave the rest to me."

After deciding where they should meet up that night, the couple separated in different directions.


	2. Chapter 2

**- Chapter 2**** -**

Jack almost got shot by a Red Coat while trying to escape somewhere outside the streets of London, and if it wasn't for his father, Captain Teague, he would have been dead.

It was a surprise to find his father indeed in London, but either way, Jack didn't question it much. He knew all too well that his father was capable of many things. Even taking the _Misty Lady_ to London and keep it hidden till he decided to sail away.

The father and son talked about the Profane Ritual at a pirate-friendly pub called the _Captain's Daughter_, the very same pub Gibbs mentioned Jack earlier that day, and is strangely enough a place that's pirate-friendly in London. Clearly Captain Teague knew that his son didn't know of the Ritual. He told his "Jackie" what was needed and pointed out a certain man with someone who was recruiting for a crew. It was luck for Jack indeed since he was in need of a ship at the moment.

After looking over to the man playing on a string instrument and singing Jolly Sailor Bold, Jack looked back to his father.

"And one last thing, Jackie," said Captain Teague.

Jack leaned over a little closer.

"The Fountain will test you," said Teague, picking up a mug of rum. "Mark my words."

Their cups clunked with a toast, as they both drank from it, with Jack once again looking back to the man still singing the sea shanty. But as he looked back, probably wanting to ask something more to his father, Teague was no longer in his seat and was gone.

Captain Teague then had went off to find another way out of the pub, until he reached the back door, and stopped as he had stepped outside.

"If your intent was to surprise me," he said as he looked over to the dark, hooded figure standing by and leaning over on the cold wall, "I'd say you failed."

"Good," said the figure, removing the hood of her cloak. "Because I'd be very disappointed if you weren't able to notice me at all."

It was Olivia.

"Mrs. Barbossa," greeted Teague with a nod. "What comes you to London?"

"I could ask you the same thing," replied the brunette. "But then again, I suppose I know the answer to that."

Teague then looked over the brunette despite being dark outside. "How long has it been?"

"A few years," Olivia quickly replied. "Since that time you married Hector and me aboard the _Misty Lady_."

"Aye," Teague nodded to the memory.

To be quite honest, Olivia never thought the intimidating Keeper of the Code might even do it.

The day Barbossa decided to sail the _Black Pearl_ to Shipwreck Cove, he wasn't entirely certain whether he would have a warm welcome from Teague.

He was greeted by the old Keeper along the way to Shipwreck City, and said he (Teague) was wondering what Jack would be doing in Shipwreck Cove, since he heard of the _Pearl_'s arrival. But since Jack wasn't there, Teague was wondering more what the _Pearl_ was doing there.

Barbossa started by saying that he didn't want his son (Victor) to grow up in an old shack down at Pantano River. Only then did Teague expressed verbally that he had respects for Barbossa for being a man who have a vast knowledge of the Code better than he was as its Keeper. Teague also said that Jack's dealings with Barbossa was to Jack's business alone and not of his, adding up the fact that Jack won't let it slip anyway, and that Shipwreck Island was welcome to all pirates.

Not wanting to destroy what little respect the Keeper had for him for the sake of his son's stay at the island, Barbossa did his best to not cross Teague in any way, which was far from happening since Teague had thought to have no reason(s) for him to be crossed with the Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea.

It was then a little less awkward to ask Teague about marrying Barbossa and Olivia when the time came.

"So you are with your husband?"

Olivia nodded simply.

"Headed for the Fountain as well?"

Olivia shrugged at this. "The King has ordered Hector to lead an expedition, so yes."

"The King?" Teague raised a brow.

"Yes," said the brunette. "My husband's a privateer now."

Mouthing an 'ah', Teague nodded. "So thing's have changed."

Again, the brunette shrugged. "Perhaps. But who knows? There might be something more than what's on the surface, yes?"

The old Keeper then caught on quick on this, but didn't say a word, just smiled and nodded.

"As much as I want to talk with you some more, Mrs. Barbossa," he then said, as he gestured a hand toward a direction, "I must go. I have a ship and crew waiting for me." Then touching his hat with two fingers and took it off quickly, just the way how he did to greet Jack moments ago, he signaled it was a goodbye.

Olivia returned the favor by nodding and putting back her hood on.

When the old Keeper went off, Olivia went inside the pub and caught sight of Jack who went into what she knew was the pub's storeroom.

She went off, as quickly as she could.

* * *

><p>"Where have you been?" asked Barbossa, as his wife finally showed up at their meeting place.<p>

"Made a few visits," Olivia answered her husband simply, as they started walking, having glanced toward him with a smile. "You weren't worried about me, were you?"

Barbossa looked over his wife as they walked.

He shrugged. "Ye're a big lass," he teased. "I be much worried about whoever crosses ye."

She only smiled back. "You tease me, mi amor."

"Ah, there ye are with that Spanish o'yers again." Barbossa then dismissed the teasing and went back to the matter at hand. "Now, are ye not to tell me where you've been?"

"Down the _Captain's Daughter_, you know of it?" she asked, with another quick glance toward her husband.

"Aye!" answered the privateer. "What business did you have there?"

"I heard the _Misty Lady_ is in London."

Barbossa stopped in his tracks and turned to face his wife. "Teague? In London? You've seen 'im?"

"Exchanged a few words," said the wife simply, as though the matter was unimportant at all. "Didn't take long. Anyway, it was obvious why Teague is here, so I went to the _Captain's Daughter_ to confirm it. I only went to call the Royal Guards when I saw Jack."

"And? Where be Sparrow now?" asked Barbossa. "The younger one, of course."

Olivia continued her story. "I knew Jack's impostor was to be there at that time too, and knowing Jack, he probably went face-to-face with his impostor. I used that opportunity to call the Guards but, unfortunately, both Jack and his impostor got away."

"Why am I not surprise?" said Barbossa with a rhetoric answer.

"At least I tried, but then it just so leads us back to Gibbs." Olivia then suddenly stopped, as having noticed her husband had just taken a rope with him from a naval officer. "Oh, so you are to use that?"

Barbossa looked over to his wife with a wicked smile. "There be an old _friend_ of mine that I have not seen in years that we are about to meet, lass. This here be simply a greetin' of me own."

After sharing wicked smiles, the couple then walked on, until they finally stepped out into the courtyard. As they stepped out into the night, they heard the familiar voice of one Joshamee Gibbs.

"There's been a mistake! It's a life sentence, not death. Life!"

The guards dragging the savvy old sailor came to a stop and spun him around, only for Gibbs to see a man whom he almost couldn't recognize who was with a woman he realized he knew too.

"Barbossa?"

The name escaped Gibbs's lips with obvious surprise, and he addressed the woman with the same surprise.

"Miss Gale?"

"It's Mrs. Barbossa now, actually," Olivia informed.

"Thank you, gentlemen," said Barbossa to the guards, as he then walked over to Gibbs and addressed the sailor. "I trust you can tie a noose." He threw Gibbs the rope he had, with Gibbs having caught it with both hands.

"That's a hard thing," said Gibbs, meeting the privateer's gaze with a steady one of his own. "Forcin' a man to twist his own hangin' rope."

Gibbs then threw the rope back to Barbossa, whom caught it deftly with one gloved hand.

"You must lie in your bed the way you made it," said the privateer, then throwing the rope toward Theodore Groves, who was standing nearby.

"What's happened to you?" asked Gibbs, as he then glanced toward Olivia. "Both of you, fer that matter."

"Love to tell," said the brunette, "but I don't have the time."

"Where be Jack Sparrow?" intervened Barbossa. At this, Gibbs smiled, realizing Jack must have had an encounter with the privateer.

"He escaped," said Gibbs, as he started with a low chuckle, but was stopped by the privateer's next words.

"I'm on a tight schedule, Gibbs, the _HMS Providence_ sets sail at first light," looking up to the noose that Groves had tied and put up on a nearby post, Barbossa continued by making his point, "and if you do not care to watch it hanging here dead with a mouthful of flies..." He looked back to Gibbs with an almost evil smile. "...Speak now."

Gibbs hesitated but for a moment, but then smiled and held out his arms on his sides. "Take me with you," he said. "At any point of the compass-"

"Take you where, Gibbs?" interrupted the privateer, stepping over to Gibbs a little closer. "The Fountain, aye? Is that where Jack be headed?"

Gibbs didn't answer, and stared down at Barbossa, though he was clearly intimidated. Olivia on the other hand was counting the seconds on how long Gibbs can keep it up.

"Have you anythin' you can offer me, Gibbs?" said Barbossa. "Anythin' at all?"

Still the sailor didn't answer.

"You know for such a story-teller," said Olivia, causing Gibbs to look to her, "I'm surprised you can keep your mouth shut at this circumstances."

When Gibbs still didn't answer, Barbossa walked off to Groves, holding out a hand as though signaling to give him the noose, saying, "Upon my naked word you'll not see the dawn."

Here Gibbs reached a hand inside his waistcoat, with Olivia having caught this action, she touched her husband's arm lightly. When Barbossa looked over to his wife, he followed her gaze, only to see Gibbs having produced the Mao Kun map.

Holding out a hand to Gibbs, Barbossa ordered, "Hand it over," confident that he'd won over the old sailor.

But Gibbs did not. Instead, he moved to reach for a nearby lamp.

"NO!" cried Olivia. But it was too late, Gibbs had burned the map with the lamp.

"You fool!" cried Barbossa, stepping towards Gibbs.

"I've had just enough time studyin' those infernal circles," said Gibbs, meeting the privateer's gaze with a brave attempt. "Every route, every destination, all safe" - he held out a finger and pointed it to his temple - "in _here_."

The privateer looked as though he could almost kill the old sailor right then and there, but with his anger in check, Barbossa said, "Welcome back to His Majesty's Navy, Master Gibbs." He then turns to leave but stopped for a pause to look to his wife. "I'll see ye at the ship," he said to her and went off, obviously irratated by what Gibbs did.

Sighing as she watched her husband walked away, Olivia looked to Groves and jerked her head to the direction where Barbossa went off. "Follow him," he said to the officer, by whic case Groves just nodded and left.

When the two guards standing by took Gibbs by the arms to get him to the _Providence_, they were stop by a hand from the privateer's wife.

"So this is how you tend to survive, Master Gibbs?" she asked the old sailor.

"One thing I know 'bout Cap'n Barbossa," replied Gibbs, "strikin' a bargain with 'im is dirty work."

"And so you tell me."

Gibbs looked over the brunette more carefully despite the darkness of the night. "You're comin' with us, ain't yah? Never took you to be one interested in immortality."

Olivia smiled to this. "Still think having a woman aboard is bad luck?"

The savvy seadog returned the smile. "I've sailed with women, _Mrs._ Barbossa. What I learned, it's not who's with you aboard, it's the destination."

The brunette said nothing more as she turned and left, followed closely behind by the guards dragging Gibbs along.

* * *

><p>She was standing by the port side of the <em>HMS Providence<em>, arms crossed at her bosom, eyes closed.

Although the crew were making a lot of noise in making ready to set sail, and with the wind whispering through her ears, she was deaf to it all. Instead, all she can hear was cannon fires from a painful memory that happened one night. There were cries of sorrow and hurt, coming from her mostly, and then she heard that one voice that haunted her still in her sleep saying, "_Papa_."

When she heard that familiar sound of a footstep accompanied with a thump of wood, she turned around.

She found Hector Barbossa, her husband, looking at her attire from head to toe.

She was wearing a white shirt with frills on the cuffs under a sleveless, dark blue coat that was buttoned at the middle which covers her stomach, full breeches and long sea boots.

Barbossa met her gaze with a raised brow.

"What?" she said to her spouse. "You expect me to be in a dress on the voyage to the Fountain?"

She gave him a playful smile as she left to go up the quarterdeck, while he just shook his head to her.

"Weigh anchor," Barbossa ordered to Groves.


	3. Chapter 3

**- Chapter 3 -**

Olivia, having both her hands on the table, was glaring at her husband.

"The_ Black...Pearl_?"

Barbossa closed his eyes, silently cursing himself, realizing his mistake.

"It's always about that bloody ship, isn't it?"

"Via, listen..." the privateer tried to explain, using the pet name he gave himself to his wife, shifting on his chair to face her.

"It's a bloody ship!" shouted the brunette in a loud voice. "Of wood and canvass, not of flesh and blood!"

Barbossa, surprised and angered, reached for his crutch and stood up, and shouted as well, "You don't raise yer voice at me, woman!"

"I'm your wife!" shouted back Olivia, standing up straighter. "I will raise my voice at you whenever I want!"

"And I be yer husband!"

"You know when it comes to you and that ship, you're just like Jack!"

Suddenly, Olivia's cheek was met with the back of Barbossa's hand. She was thrown to the wooden floor with the force, as she instinctively placed a hand on the cheek that was smacked.

"I'm nothin' like Sparrow," growled Barbossa to his wife.

Looking up, Olivia met her husband's glare with a deathly look of her own. "My mistake."

She stood up quickly and went for the doors of the cabin to go out. Barbossa struggled to catch up with her, but with obvious difficulty.

"You come back here, woman!" he shouted at her. "I be not done with you!"

Olivia had already opened the doors and was on her way out on deck, surprising the English crew gathered there and was doing their work. "Well I'm done with you!" she shouted back to her husband, without turning to face him.

"OLIVIA!"

But Barbossa's call was not answered, as the brunette went on walking.

"Out of my way!" she shouted to the sailor blocking her way to the hatch. She disappeared down below as soon as the sailor stepped away.

The crew, including Groves and Gillette, looked towards their captain, who was breathing heavily through his nose, a scowl was on his face. When Barbossa finally noticed the eyes on him, he shouted to his crew, "What you all lookin' at!" The crew on deck scurried and busied on to their respective works, while Groves and Gillette, though them too almost jumped on their places when their captain shouted, looked on. Eventually, Barbossa also turned to them. "Back to work! And close the doors!" the privateer shouted.

The two officers then shut the door as soon as their commanding officer went inside his cabin.

"Quite a couple, aren't they?" said Gillette to Groves, in which Groves only placed a finger to his lips and jerked a thumb to the cabin, indicating that Barbossa might hear them.

They both then went up toward the quarterdeck.

* * *

><p><em>The Queen Anne's Revenge. Captain's cabin.<em>

"For how long will he stay asleep?"

Edward Teach, more famously known as Blackbeard, asked his daughter, as he sat behind his desk.

"The sleeping dart used on him last night is intended to last for five days," answered Angelica with a strong Spanish accent. "When he wakes up he'll have to cope up with the realization of where he is. He'll see me on the ship, look for me, then perhaps we can talk to him."

The father looked up to the daughter. "And in what way, do you have in mind, shall we convince him to lead us to the Fountain?"

The daughter only smiled. "Persuasion."

The captain only smirked, then looked down on what seemed to be an unfinished voodoo doll. "That would be all, first mate. You have matters to attend to on deck. See to it."

She just nodded and went off, out of the cabin. She immediately went up to the helm, where the zombified quartermaster was. He acknowledged her presence with a nod, as she returned it and stood there without a word for a few seconds.

When Angelica looked back towards the quartermaster, she stepped a little closer and said, "Quartermaster, I have to ask," - he looked to her - "about the one-legged man...Does he know his destiny?"

"No," the quartermaster said. "But he is walking that path now, as we speak."

She glanced on deck for a moment before looking back up to the zombie. "What does he look like? His face. Is he tall, short?"

"He is a tall man," said the zombie, looking forward. "Of auburn hair, graying of age, and a scraggly beard. A scar can be seen under his right eye, and his eyes - blue like the sky. Eyes that when glaring, can give out a venomous look."

Angelica looked out into the middle distance. "What sort of man can that be?"

"A man that is anything but a coward."

The first mate said nothing in return.

* * *

><p>It was nearly sunset, and Olivia hadn't emerged below decks yet, and although not worried, Barbossa thought it was time to make up. For a many times before since he and Olivia were together, they've had many fights, so it wasn't the first time he ever swallowed his pride and do the first move.<p>

He came to standstill within a foot away from her. She had noticed him since he first entered.

"Don't say anything," she said. "I'm not drunk, I assure you. I've just opened this bottle."

He sighed. "This be not how a privateer's wife should behave," he said, but she only scoffed at this.

"To hell with that."

The privateer's eyes narrowed. "How much have ye drank already?" he asked.

"Just drank from it twice," she replied, moving to hold up the bottle to her mouth. But before her lips can even touch the bottle's orifice, it was snatched away by a gloved hand.

"Fine! Take the bloody bottle!" she shouted, flailing her hands up the air. "What the hell do I care?"

Barbossa then held out a hand to his wife. "The cork," he ordered. She hesitated but for a moment, but eventually gave the cork to him. He then set the cork back to the bottle before sitting down beside her on another crate.

Both of them were silent for a couple of heartbeats that passed.

It was the husband who spoke first, still not looking to his wife.

"Ye know this here be not just about the _Pearl_, or me leg, better than any person. 'S also about our son."

Olivia sighed. "I know. I suppose I overreacted back at the cabin."

The privateer gave a quick sidelong glance to his wife sitting beside him over to his left. "Was ne'er a father to our son, was I?"

"Not true," she said. "You spent half a year with us at Shipwreck Cove for two years before taking us with you on the _Pearl_."

He gave her a look.

"I know, I know. It's not what you meant."

There was silence again for a moment, the couple once again not looking at each other.

"I blessed the day ye gave me Victor, if such a thing be possible fer me," Barbossa said all of a sudden. "But I be better off a pirate than a father. I know not how to go about rearin' a child."

"Alright, perhaps with that I can agree with you." A smile played on Olivia's face as she spoke, looking down on her feet. "But you wanted to have a chance with him when you took us aboard the _Pearl_."

"Aye," confirmed Barbossa. "But still didn't know how. I could have asked Teague how he went about it himself but..." He shrugged indifferently.

Olivia nodded. "Yes, and it would have been awkward."

"An' Jack be a different matter altogether."

"Of course Jack is a different matter." The wife sat up straighter, placing one leg on top of the other. "He grew up in a family of outlaws where most of the family members are pirates."

The privateer frowned. "I was talkin' about the monkey."

The wife, realizing her mistake, could only say, "Oh." She then heard her husband sighed heavily, as she finally looked up to him, just in time to watch him speak.

"Jack did not need some carin' for, he was a smart monkey," he continued, still referring to his lost pet. "Especially that he's undead, so not much would hurt 'im at all. And Victor..." He trailed off, a certain memory of his son suddenly came to mind. "First time I shouted at the lad, he was reachin' for me pistol. I had to get it away from 'im before he shoots hisself."

Olivia looked closely at her husband, taking note of a very unfamiliar look in his eyes.

"The lad cried after I snatched the pistol away. Didn't know what to do so I hauled 'im up in me arms. He cried more on me shoulder, until I felt his fingers around me earring. When I pulled back, he had stopped cryin', and touched me nose...First time heard him called me 'Papa'."

When Barbossa was finished, Olivia realized what was the look on his face. It was a touch of sadness, sorrow, for having the chance of being a better father to his son stolen from him in one night.

She sat closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't move an inch.

"Did you ever love our son?" she said.

"Aye," came his answer in a whisper. "Since I first laid eyes on 'im."

She smiled. "Then that's all I needed to know."

That night, when the entire crew was all asleep, Barbossa found himself looking down on his wife who was lying down and already asleep on their bunk, wearing a white night gown. And for all he knows, she was probably wearing _nothing else_ underneath that silky gown.

His coat and bicorne hat sat untouched on the chair by his desk, and the desk itself, apart from being filled with maps, was where his waist coat, cravat and white gloves were. In other words, his effects were like that of a forgotten pile after having removed it all.

It did not take long before he finally joined his wife, pulling up the covers to him and rolling on his side, propped on one elbow, once again looking down on her.

Olivia had already entered her early forties, yet still she looked attractive. Her brunette hair had touches of white and gray, but if one would not look closely enough, you can barely see it. He had assumed that perhaps the graying of her hair was the effect of mourning for their son and all the planning they did to have the King's favor in leading an expedition to the Fountain. Now that they were actually on their way, all that was needed to be done was the last of their plan - taking on revenge for loses made.

Suddenly, for no reason at all, he started kissing her by the cheek, her neck, then her temple and eyelids, repeatedly and lovingly. On his first kiss she did not even twitch, but as he continued, she stirred a little and smiled.

"Hector..." she said, still not opening her eyes. Her voice was sleepy.

Her husband smirked.

"Apologies, lass," he said. "T'was not me intentions to wake ya."

"That's alright," she said, still smiling. "So long as you don't stop at that."

It didn't even take a second more before Barbossa started again, but this time, with his hand.

He made the journey down south, pulling up her gown until he found that sweet and warm piece of paradise that was located between her thigh.

While he wondered when was the last time he touch her that way, she moaned softly, turning to lie on her back as she met his gaze, his hand hadn't left its course.

"Now I'm truly awake," she said.

She moaned some more as he redoubled his efforts with an expert hand. A minute later, she came.

Still propped on one elbow, he watched her carefully, intently, as she placed a hand to his cheek.

"What came to your mind that made you do that?" she asked him.

He smirked once again. "This be how I make up fer hurtin' ye earlier."

She said nothing for a few moments, before finally saying, "I want you...Now."

The husband moved to remove his shirt, but was stop with a gentle hand on his shoulder from his wife.

"No," she said as she smiled coyly. "Just sit up, prop yourself on the pillows, and let me do the rest, love."

They each made their positions, as she tugged at his breeches open, aroused him by taking him in her mouth, until she was finally ready to have him inside her.

She sat on his lap, gasping a little as she felt him inside her, hot and sleek. When was the last time they ever made love? She can't remember. But does it even matter?

She moved her hips, until both of them were making moaning and groaning sounds.

It didn't take too long before he came, as did she at the same time, collapsing in his arms as she rested her head on his shoulder. Meanwhile, he pulled her even closer to him, smiling on her brunette hair.

He said, "I thought pleasure comes afterwards. What be this?"

She smiled against his shoulder. "You started it."

He chuckled.

They stayed in that position for a moment before lying on bed and fell asleep in each other's arms.

They haven't even reached the middle of their journey yet. But when they do get to the island, they know what to do. First, Barbossa had to deal with his officers doubts about his loyalties to the Crown, and about his true purpose on wanting to lead this expedition.


	4. Chapter 4

**- Chapter 4 -**

"Steady as she goes."

Angelica stood at the quarterdeck, just beside the zombiefied quartermaster who was currently stirring the wheel. She knew that Jack Sparrow was among the crew at the moment somewhere across the deck, and knew that he had eventually caught sight of her, which was what she had been expecting. So she wasn't entirely that surprised when Jack confronted here below decks, having a hook at her throat in a threateningly manner.

They talked, just as she knew that it would lead to it.

She told him they were truly aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, and told him that she was Blackbeard's daughter. It was the truth, but she made it seem to him that it was a lie. Finally, it led her to telling him about the prophecy, the reason why Blackbeard searches for the Fountain of Youth:

_"He will die within a fortnight, under the hands of a one-legged man."_

As she left Jack to himself, she knew all too well that it had gotten Jack interested enough. What the eccentric pirate intends to do next was up to him, Angelica would have just to sit and wait until they can convince Jack to lead them to the silver chalices and to the Fountain's location. She needed it, not for herself, but for her father.

A sudden memory came rushing to her.

She would not be able to know about the Ritual if it weren't for some little help.

It had been a few years back since then...

...

_Angelica had stepped out of the longboat, as she turned to Scrum and ordered for him to wait there._

_"You sure you don't want any company with you, milady?" Scrum asked. "The place seems eerie to me. Tells something of the occupant, too."_

_"The more reason why you should stay here, Scrum," she told him, and he said nothing more._

_She entered rather too cautiously, almost hugging close to her body the jar of soil she had in her arms. She brought it as a form of payment. Any such questioning from Tia Dalma is considered a service that would require payment._

_The moment she entered by the door, she already caught sight of the witch. Tia Dalma was seated at the table, looking down on something, whispering words Angelica could not understand or hear. Then the witch stopped, lifting her head, and greeted the new comer._

_"Angelica. Fo'h what reason may de sea had brought ya here?"_

_The Latin girl approached bravely, setting the big jar at her hip with her left arm and hand. "To ask questions. I assume you know about a ritual concerning the Fountain of Youth?"_

_Tia stood up and slowly turned to Angelica, the look on her eyes was serious despite the smile on her face. "Fo'h every question comes payment." She held out a hand to the Latin girl._

_Angelica handed over the jar she was holding. "I hope it is fair payment to what I am about to ask."_

_The witched grinned then moved to stow the jar, disappearing into a certain room, making soft noises. When she emerged again, she sat down at the table and beckoned Angelica to join her. "Com'," she said. "Sit an' ask."_

_"I know that for every ritual, there are items required for it to be done," Angelica said as she sat at the chair across the witch. "What are the items needed for the ritual for the Fountain?"_

_Tia smiled a toothed grin. "You seek only three." She raised a hand with three fingers held up. "Two silvah chalices," she held out two fingers, "a mermaid's one, single tear," she ran a finger down her right cheek, "an' wata'h from de Fountain." Her expressions suddenly became serious, as Angelica looked on with full attention. "One can find a mermaid at Whitepcap Bay. De chalices will be found on de Santiago, Juan Ponce de León's ship. De ship an' de Fountain can be found on one island, but different locations, an' Whitecap Bay be not fa'h."_

_Angelica nodded, taking in the information, carving it in her mind. Then she looked back to the witch. "And the ritual itself? How is it done?" she asked. At this, the witch smiled once again._

_"Angelica, what interest have ya about de Fountain?" Tia asked in a teasing tone, leaning back on her chair. "One such as ya'self do not go on seeking immortality."_

_The Latin girl answered with a smirk of her own. "That is true. I have no need for the Fountain. And why should I ever? So yes, it is __not for myself, but for someone else...My father."_

_Tia lifted her chin, her eyes still focused at the Latin girl sitting from across her. "You'h fatha'h?" she repeated._

_"Yes," confirmed Angelica. "My father. Edward Teach, famously known as Blackbeard, perhaps you have heard of him."_

_Again Tia's expressions turned serious, placing her hands on the table, slightly leaning forward. "De Fountain will do no good fo'h him. Tell him dat. Him cannot cheat what is o'ready set. Fate, has spoken."_

_"There is no harm in trying," said Angelica in return, holding the witch's gaze._

_Slowly, Tia once again leaned back on her chair, sighing as she did. "I see. I see now de part ya mus' play in you'h fatha's fate." Angelica frowned at this, not truly understanding what the witch meant, until said witch smiled at her again. "De ritual is called de Profane Ritual. But dis be a knowledge I do not hand down ta men dat easily." Tia then held out her hand. "What is it can ya offa'h me ta tell it to you?"_

_"What?" said Angelica incredulously. "The ridiculous jar of dirt that I gave you! Was that not enough payment?"_

_"It is a ritual dat took many lives," said the witch with a serious tone in her voice, her smile disappeared once more, "dat Ponce de León had to keep de Fountain a secret from de world. I told ya, dat dis be a knowledge I cannot bring down ta men...Especially dos like you'h fatha."_

_"¡Mierda!" Angelica cursed in Spanish under her breath. She tried to look about her person, trying to search for anything she can offer Tia Dalma, and her search led her to the amethyst ring on her finger. Taking the ring, she held it out to the witch with one hand. "Is this payment enough for me to know about the Profane Ritual?"_

_Tia Dalma reached over for the ring and took it, eyeing it carefully with his black eyes._

_"De ring o' thieves," the witch said smiling. "'S said ta pass down from one hand ta de atha'h." She looked back up to the Latin girl still waiting for her answer. "A fair payment, but I tell ya dis," she placed the ring near a heart-shaped locket, "it may return ta you, Angelica. Time will tell."_

_"The ritual." Angelica was getting impatient._

_"Both chalices gets wata'h from de Fountain," started Tia, "but only one gets de tear. De one with de tear gives life. De one without, takes it away."_

_"What?"_

_Tia took in the look on Angelica's face before continuing. "Him dat drinks the chalice with de tear gets all de years of life from him who drinks from de atha'h dats without. De years one have, added with de years from de unfortunate one - dat be how long one can live."_

_Angelica's eyes wandered toward another direction, away from the witch sitting across from her. It was when said witch spoke again that Angelica looked back to her._

_"One must first be taken by death, befo'h de atha'h gains life. Ya understand dis, yes?"_

_Angelica only nodded slowly. Then, pushing away from the table and hauling herself to her feet, she made her farewell to the witch. "Thank you, Tia Dalma. I must go now."_

_She then turned around, not even daring to look back and give a glance toward the witch, but there was something about that cold chill that ran down her spine that somehow told her that Tia might be smiling from behind her._

_..._

"Captain want's to see you."

The zombified gunner's voice brought Angelica back to the present. She looked up to the huge gunner towering over her as she nodded and asked, "Of course. Did he say why?" She had started to walk off for the captain's cabin.

"No," the gunner replied, and turned around as soon as Angelica vanished into the cabin, closing the door behind her with a quiet shut.

* * *

><p>By the shore of a unnamed island which no one knew even existed, stood a sea goddess with dark dreadlocks of a hair, wearing a dress in a blue-green color, the wind whispering at her ears.<p>

Calypso had spent a lot of time in that island after she was released from her human bonds.

"Der be a change in de winds," she said.

"When did it not?" came a voice from behind her, thick with a Scottish accent.

She smiled to herself.

During those times after her freedom, she didn't spend her time in that island alone. She had picked up someone along the way, lost in the seas, and brought him there to be with her. So that they could be together...as what they have always wanted.

Calypso turned around to see her beloved standing within five feet from her. There he was, Davy Jones, in his human form.

"The winds would always change," said Davy Jones, not moving from where he stood, as he watched with a smile on his face as Calypso approached him.

The goddess planted a kiss on her beloved's lips, before she spoke to answer him, her smile not leaving her face. "De winds dat here I felt tells me of men searching fo'h de fabled Fountain."

Jones's brows formed into a frown. "The Fountain of Youth?" he asked, and Calypso only nodded as a response. "Ah," he nodded himself, "men has not changed at all. Are there kings involved?"

"De English competes with de Spanish," replied the sea goddess, causing Jones to nod again.

"And are there pirates?"

With that question, Jones's thoughts were at a particular pirate - Jack Sparrow.

"Yes," confirmed Calypso. "Blackbeard uses Jack Sparrow ta get ta de Fountain."

Again, the frown on Jones's brows appeared. "Edward Teach? Searching for the Fountain? Why?"

"Ta cheat death, my love." There was no teasing in Calypso's voice.

This time, Jones shook his head from side to side.

"Do not tell me that he knows how he would meet his end," he said, as Calypso and he started walking off.

The sea goddess took her beloved by the arm before she responded. "Him has been informed, years ago. But searching fo'h de Fountain would do him no good. De one-legged man will kill him. De one-legged man has reason ta not stop until it is done."

"Who is this one-legged man?" asked Jones out of curiosity, surprisingly becoming interested.

"Him is a man you know of o'ready. A man whom Jack Sparrow hates mo'h dan anyone in de world." Looking up to Jones, Calypso met it with a serious look in her eyes. "De man whom is destined ta kill Edward Teach, is Hecta'h Barbossa."

The frown that formed in Jones's face was out of surprise. "Barbossa? But he is a man of two legs, not one." He frowned more when his dearly beloved shook her head to him.

"Him lost one."

Both of them were silent for the remainder of the walk, which led to a house of wood and stone. The house was hidden among the trees by a river that flowed from a waterfall and leads to the sea.

Jones only spoke again when both he and Calypso had sat down at the table, just across from each other.

"No doubt Sparrow wanted a taste of the Fountain's water," he declared flat out, just wanting some confirmation.

"Him must play a part in Blackbeard's fate," the sea goddess said, leaning back comfortably on her chair, "just as how Blackbeard's daughta'h have a part as well."

"Daughter?"

Calypso had grown tired of the entire conversation that she had decided to let Jones forget about it. She stood from her seat and took him by the arm, then led him inside the house, where the organ was found. It was the same organ Jones had on the Dutchman when he was still the ghostly ship's captain. Calypso had it taken from the _Dutchman_ and brought to the island by a quick visit to Will Turner to the Locker.

"Play fo'h me, my sweet," she said in an alluring voice, which made Jones smile.

"For ye, my love," he replied, then set his fingers on the keys and started playing the same tune that which comes out from their lockets. The very same tune he played aboard the _Dutchman_ with pain in his heart. But this time, he played it with joy and happiness, and full of love.

Speaking of Blackbeard's daughter, Calypso remembered that time Angelica visited her in her shack as Tia Dalma, asking about the Profane Ritual that's needed to be done at the Fountain.

A smile played across her face as she remembered that memory.

But she was smiling more about the fact that Angelica did not know that the man destined to kill her father was on his way and had arrived at the shack the next day, after Angelica left. And what Calypso said was true about the Ring of Thieves, because Jack Sparrow came that time with Will Turner and others, as Barbossa slept silently inside a room in the shack. The group asked about the key to the Dead Man's Chest.

Jack had taken the ring with him, and Calypso does not doubt that the ring will find its way back to Angelica's hand, and to be once again worn on the Latin girl's finger.


	5. Chapter 5

**- Chapter 5**** -**

Right in the middle of Jones's playing, a lad with brunette hair came knocking at the door which was left open.

Both Calypso and Jones looked up to the lad, with the latter having stopped his playing. "Yes, Victa'h?" the sea goddess asked. "What is it?"

The lad stood unmoving and said, "When am I to go and be with my parents again?"

The sea goddess shared a look with her lover, before both turned once again to look at the lad by the door.

"When is time Victa'h," Calypso said. "It will com', but not yet."

"You mean 'not now.'"

At this, Jones stood up and whispered an excuse to leave at his lover's ear, before going for the door and closing it quietly behind him. And right after the door was closed, the lad spoke to once again address the sea goddess.

"You said you'll bring me to my parents when I turn thirteen. I'm thirteen now, Calypso. I want to see my parents. I want to be with them, _now_."

The sea goddess shook her head, as she took a few steps toward the lad with brunette hair. "No. Is not yet time. I will take ya back ta you'h parents, soon. But not now."

It wasn't the first time Calypso had such a discussion with the lad; concerning his parents, that is.

The lad sometimes asked about his father; of what kind of a captain he was, what kind of a pirate, but entirely, what he was like. Then sometimes the lad would ask about his mother; of what she looks like, how much does she love his father, and what kind of person she was. But it had always led to the question "When can I see them again?"

And for a thousand times Calypso had promised him "When you turn thirteen." It had come. The lad had turned thirteen, but she wasn't lying when she said it was not yet time for him to be with his parents again.

"When is 'soon'?" the boy asked. "I'm beginning to forget how they look like, and I don't know if I would still be able to recognize them. Or if they can still recognize _me_!"

"Sssshhh." The sea goddess walked over to the lad, tried to hush him, and pulled him close to her. "None o'dat, Victa'h. Ya must understand, child. Is not yet time, fo'h ya have no part in what must happen within days. When it is finish, den will I take ya ta you'h parents. I promise."

The lad stirred, pushing himself away from her arms, then looked up to her. "If that is what you say."

He turned away from her without another word and left.

Calypso took a few moments before stepping out of the room. She looked for her beloved who was at what they call could pass for a living room, seated comfortably on a love seat full of soft pillows with designs of fishes and seaweeds. He was huffing on his pipe.

"Ye can't keep the boy forever," he said as she approached him, and made to sit beside him.

"I canna' keep him," she replied. "Him does not belong to me, and I do not own him. But is not yet time."

"Aye," agreed Jones, puffing smoke out of his mouth. "But it has been years since you tried to convince the boy to wait until it is time." At this, the sea goddess simply sighed.

"Yes."

There was an awkward moment of silence before Jones decided to speak again.

"May I ask ye something, love?" The sea goddess nodded. "Why did ye made the boy aged six years than he should be when ye brought him back?"

Calypso smiled. "Because is the rules of the new captain of the _Dutchman_." Her smile broadened at the memory of William Turner Jr. "I found de boy aboard the ship o'ready. I asked Captain Turna'h to give Victa'h's soul ta me, but him did not want ta. Him said it be not fair ta de atha' souls."

"How did ye negotiate?" asked Jones, amused by the idea of how Turner takes up the duty that was once handed down to him as a serious business indeed.

"I told de captain dat Victa'h be Barbossa's child ta Olivia, an' I owe Barbossa a debt fo'h staying true to him word ta me," replied the goddess. "Also, dat Victa'h be too young."

Bringing back Victor was an entirely different matter compared to bringing back Barbossa. And Jones knew this. Because first of all, Barbossa was not able to travel to the Locker. During the time the _Hai Peng_ was to travel to World's End, Barbossa was listening to the direction his soul was pointing, because the man himself did not know the way, his _soul_ does. Secondly, there was no one who had taken up the duty of ferrying souls to the other side since Jones decided to forget about it. So no such negotiations were necessary to be done.

"And in what terms did Turner gave you the boy's soul?" Jones asked through his teeth where he still had his pipe in his mouth.

"Dat de boy should go back ta de living six years olda'h dan de boy was when him died," she answered, her fingers toying with his beard. "De six years be from the six atha' souls aboard de _Dutchman_ dat time."

He chuckled. Setting aside his pipe, he leaned over to the goddess and kissed her gently on the lips, only brushing his on hers. Though Calypso was caught by surprise, she wasn't about to complain.

"Turner's better at it than I was," he said.

* * *

><p>Olivia studied the maps on the navigator's desk at the quarterdeck, trying to figure out just where in the world was Gibbs taking them, while Barbossa, standing within a few feet from her, was looking through another map by the rails. But it would seem as though she did not have to waste any more time on it, as Gibbs was being dragged across the deck toward them.<p>

When Gibbs was brought to his knees at Barbossa's feet, Olivia looked up with bewilderment, wondering what her husband had in mind this time.

"Oh Master Gibbs," said Barbossa casually, looking down on the man he addressed, "short we are of a map, perhaps you could be so kind as to provide as an heading."

Sighing through her nose, Olivia straightened up as she stood aside to give room for Gibbs, who glanced over to Groves and asked for a drink.

"Nay!" said Barbossa. "We privateers not pirates, Master Gibbs," he reminded, "and in the King's name will behave as such." Olivia on the other hand was fighting the urge to roll her eyes at her husband, though she couldn't stop the corners of her lips to curve into a smile.

"Aye" was the only thing Gibbs gave to Barbossa as a reply while adding "Cap'n" in a manner of respect in his nod and voice as best he could.

As the seasoned sailor flipped through the maps, Olivia frowned on what she thought she saw on his eyes.

"I hope that's not hesitation I see in your eyes, Master Gibbs," she said.

When Gibbs looked up to meet her gaze, Barbossa said sternly, "Be we on the proper course, Gibbs?"

Gibbs looked up to the privateer. "Aye," he said with an unblinking stare, "it be proper." His eyes were focused beyond Barbossa's back as he held out a finger toward that direction. "There's your proof."

Everyone turned to look at the direction Gibbs pointed, including Barbossa who turned around sharply and went over the railings. There they saw three Spanish galleons passing them by. As Groves got out a spyglass, Olivia, who had came to stand beside the lieutenant commander, held out a hand to him to indicate to give the spyglass to her. With hesitation, Groves handed the object to his commanding officer's wife.

Barbossa then started alerting the crew into their battle stations. As the crew pushed forward the guns, and some took on their posts with rifles in their arms, Barbossa took up the spyglass Groves gave him and told the men to "await orders."

"The men awaits your orders, sir," said Groves.

And they waited.

And waited.

And waited, as Barbossa caught sight of the Spanish leader.

"Sir, orders..?" Groves looked up to his captain. "Sir!" There was urgency in his voice. After the defeat of the _HMS Endeavor_ at the War Against Piracy, it seemed he had developed a slight phobia of holding the order "fire."

Olivia shook her head. "Nothing should be done."

"What?" Turning to the brunette with incredulity, Groves was surprised to see calmness in her face. Barbossa on the other hand, seemed to have agreed with his wife, as he lowered the spyglass.

"He never so much as turned his head," commented Gibbs, clearly referring to the leader of the Spanish.

"The Fountain is the price," said the privateer, handing over the spyglass to his officer. Then turned around and stood by the wheel. "It seems we're not even worth the time to sink us," he said, then turned to Gibbs and added in a louder voice, "And now we've fallen behind!" He turned to the men. "All hands, make more sail!"

The English crew hurried to make more sail, as the privateer Barbossa turned the wheel with one gloved hand, his crutch handed to Gillette. "Ride hard between wind and tide."

Stepping over to Gillette, Olivia took the crutch from the officer's hands and gave it to her husband.

"We need to talk," she said to Barbossa as she walked off and went for the main cabin. She didn't have to look back as Barbossa was already close by, following her.

"What be it this time?" asked the privateer immediately, after having closed the doors behind him, and was certain that the privacy of the cabin can keep others from overhearing them.

"The Spanish," began the wife, her arms across her bosom. "What are we to do if ever they are to be the first one's to get a hold of the chalices? What would be your proposed step?"

"I care only to have a chance with Blackbeard," replied the husband. "'Tis obvious that he be wantin' eternal life from the Fountain an' that he be needin' the chalices fer it. So I'll grab the chalices from the Spanish to get Blackbeard's attention. Everythin' goes from there."

The tone of voice sounded as though his wife should have known that that would be his step.

"What about Jack?" she asked, looking up to meet his blue gaze. "What if Jack shows up aboard the _Santiago_ and not Blackbeard? What would you do then?"

He smiled. "Be there some reason as to this line of questioning?" Stepping over with his peg leg, he came closer toward his wife, coming to a standstill in front of her.

She met his gaze with an unblinking one of her own. "I know that you would always be two steps ahead of everyone. But I myself don't know your plans, so what are they?"

But her question was answered with another question. "Tell me, me lovely wife," he toyed a few locks of her hair with his gloved fingers, "why is it that we be on our way to the fabled Fountain in the first place?"

"For revenge," she readily answered. "For loses made."

"Aye," he nodded. "Loss me ship, me leg, me son." Pausing for dramatic effect, he watched as the mention of their son made his wife looked away from his gaze. "After I kill the blackguard responsible fer it, I will be takin' his ship an' crew, with the sword of Triton in me possession."

Once again, she managed to look up to him. "So you do plan on taking the Queen Anne's Revenge," she said, and she watched her husband smiled to her again.

"Two steps ahead," he said to her, before turning to leave the cabin.

Shaking her head from side to side, she made to move and go out of the cabin herself to see what other things may happen out on deck.

"_Two steps ahead_," she repeated to herself.

* * *

><p>Philip Swift's P.O.V.<p>

...Aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge..

For how long had I been bounded by tight ropes high above the mast, I do not know. I only prayed to the Heavenly Father everyday that I be delivered from such a slow torture. For my thirst grew on each day, and my hunger, despite the Cook's efforts at times who climbs up to me to give me a scoop of water or soup when he gets the chance.

Still, I was at least thankful that I was alive. And thankful enough for the First Mate, the captain's daughter, Angelica. If it were not for her, I would have died on the raid that fateful night. Perhaps she was sent to rescue me, as answer to my prayers.

I blamed not my Saviour about my predicament, only that I pity the captain's soul. If pity was enough. It was he who ordered for me to be tied up on the mast. Being the first one that the rays of the sun touches at sunrise, and the last when it goes down at sunset, it was tiring.

After days had gone by, I can tell by the sun's rise and fall off the horizon, I noticed that there was a new addition among the crew. He was a fellow of long dark hair, which I believe was called dreadlocks. He had a red bandanna about his head, and his mannerisms had seemed odd to me, since it had a touch of eccentricity. In fact, I might rightly just as say that the man had an air of eccentricity about him.

Yet still, nothing out of the ordinary occurred aboard the hell-bound vessel. That is, until that night...

It was so quiet at first, that I would have drifted off to sleep in my usual uncomfortable position high above the mast, when it all began so suddenly.

At first I heard a scream, which was followed by another, until a dozen of screams can be heard below the deck accompanied by the rings of swords. Metal clashing against metal.

I looked down, to see that men were against one another. Then I realized that the crew must have raised a mutiny.

As I looked on, praying for the souls that might lose their lives that night, two men came climbing up to me. One as I recalled was only known by the name Salaman, while the other was the eccentric new member of the crew. I only found out later on that he was known to be Jack Sparrow. And he insisted at times upon not forgetting to accompany the title "Captain" along with his name.

Salaman brought up the blade of a knife at me. "You're either with us or against us!" he said.

"I'm not with you neither am I against you!" I replied.

"Can he do that?" he asked Jack.

"He's religious, I believe it's required," Jack responded.

And so, just like that, I was freed from my bonds. But it was not over.

I could do nothing while men around me fought each other, swords in hand. Angelica was stopped by a few of the men, so were the other officers whom I have came to know were zombified by the captain. This had seemed to have made some kind of advantage for the mutineers. Jack, whom I caught sight ran off toward the quarterdeck, had cried out, "The ship is ours!"

That was when the door to the captain's cabin opened. It revealed a dark figure of a man, whom I didn't have to see the face just to know how it was.

Said to be the pirate all pirates fear - Edward "Blackbeard" Teach.

He stepped out of better lighting, the left chest of his black coat smoking, and so was a part of his beard, drinking from a bottle he had in one hand. Jack had stepped aside to make room for the master of the ship.

He looked around on deck before he addressed the men gathered there.

"Gentlemen," he began, then drank from the bottle, before he threw it on deck as it smashed on the wooden flooring. "I be placed in a bewilderment," he continued, as he raised his head to look up. "There I were," he gestured a hand back to his cabin, "resting. And upon a sudden, I hear an ungodly row on deck."

I watched his hand go for the hilt of his sword, and his thumb circled around the metal pommel.

"Sailors abandon their posts," he said, "without orders, without leave. Men before the mast, taking the ships for themselves. What be that, First Mate?"

"Mutiny, Captain," I heard Angelica answered.

He put two fingers to his left ear. "Again," he said, and the sound of his voice sent chills on my spine.

"Mutiny!" she repeated.

"Aye." There was a kind of subtle glare on his eyes, and a touch of evil. "Mutiny," he repeated to himself, as he started to draw out his sword. "And what fate befalls mutineers? Now we know the answer to that, do we not?"

He looked down on his sword as he uttered, "Mutineers," then added with a shout as he thrust the sword above his head, "HAAAAAAAAAANG!"

The screams I heard next were of...fear.

For more than once I ducked as men flew over my head, being caught by ropes that had come to life. When it was over, every single one of the mutineers were entangled high above the rigging, the ropes were around their bodies and their legs. I was thankful to be not among them, and at the same time pitied them as well.

Jack had proposed to "name fingers and point names" about the mutiny perhaps in an attempt to save himself, but the captain knew all too well that it was Jack who started it. Saying that the crew were "sheep" and that Jack was their "shepherd."

As Jack lay down on the deck, Blackbeard went down the steps and aimed a pistol at the man on the floor. Angelica, I saw, had went up to her father, no doubt persuading him not to kill Jack. But what the captain said was more than I could bear to hear.

"_If I don't kill a man every now and then, they forget who I am._"

I could not just stand there and watch.

"Coward!" I cried, eliciting a short "Hm?" from the captain, as I approached. "Did you not forget?" I said. "Your crew sees you for the miscreant you are." I pointed at him. "No matter how many you slay."

My further possible advance was stopped by a blade of a sword from the Quartermaster.

The captain held out his arms on his side and said, "Once in one day I find myself in a bewilderment."

"You are not bewildered," I replied readily, "you are afraid." He took a few steps closer to me, and I kept my gaze at him without being intimidated with that look on his dark eyes as long as I could. "You dare not walk the path of righteousness. The Way of the Light."

"No, sir, the truth is it be much simpler than all that," he replied as though he was expecting me to say what I said. "I'm a bad man."

He turned away. "_That_ too," I spat.

He turned to face me again, this time, his pistol was pointed at me. "I might have to kill you too, Catechist."

But Angelica lowered his arm with a cry of "No!"

"Oh, Latin blood! Just like her mother!" the captain commented rather angrily.

"Father, I beg you."

Suddenly, I watched the captain's expressions on the face changed, as though some kind of realization came to him. "Ah, there I be again, forgetting why the missionary's here," he said, as he faced his daughter. "My daughter, fears for my soul," he glanced up to me, "or what's left of it."

I couldn't have agreed more on the latter thing that he mentioned, but I held my tongue.

He touched his daughter's chin lightly with his fingers as he asked, "You truly want to save me, my child?"

"Every soul can be saved," she replied.

"Be that true, young cleric?" he asked, looking up to me with his dark eyes.

"Yes," I readily answered him. "Though you I see as a bit of a long shot." _At a very far distance_. "Still, I pray for every unfortunate soul on this Hell-bound vessel."

The captain held out a hand. "You disarm me with your faith." I made an inward sigh of relief when he stowed away his pistil at his side.

Then, he called out to the crew, the mutineers, of which one of them stood and watch. When Jack presented himself, the captain only scoffed at it, and turned to ask the Gunner, who in turn looked up to the Cook who was equally entangled above the rigging just as the entirety of the mutineers.

"Aye, the Cook. Perfect," I heard the captain said, before he turned away. "Lower the longboat!"

The Cook was set on the longboat lowered at the side of the ship, and rowed for quite some time before the captain ordered to bring about the ship toward the Cook's direction.

Everyone's eyes were set forward, watching and waiting what was to happen next. Perhaps they don't know what to expect, but I did. I have seen it once. And had hoped to never see it again. But alas, I witnessed it again for a second time.

Angelica, who had walked off to her father's side, tried to persuade him not to do it, though I could not hear her. She was standing in silence, still by her father's side, when I approached.

"Oh, you now?" I heard the captain addressed me. "Chance to show the worth of your prayers." I looked over to him, not certain what he meant, as he gestured a hand toward the Cook who was still rowing at a distance. "Pray that he be delivered from...evil?"

I looked back to the Cook.

We were approaching him, fast. But the ship was kept at a certain distance.

"Full speed!"

I turned to the captain. "Please, give the man a chance." I tried to reason with him, but in vain. "Give yourself-"

Anything I had to say was cut off by the sound of Greek fire roaring out of the bow of the ship. I watched helplessly as the Cook burned while still aboard the longboat.

I locked eyes with Angelica before she went off, and before I heard the captain asked me, "You know when I feel closest to our Maker?"

I didn't answer him, of I knew that it was rhetorical.

"When I see suffering, pain, and anguish, when the true design of this world is revealed."

"And I see it to be in times of hardship and tragedy," I said to him, trying to counter. "Kindness and compassion are given to those in need."

"Then perhaps you should have prayed for him to be unharmed, yes?"

I banged my hand clutching the bible on the wooden rails as I tried to reason with him again. "Please, there's still hope-"

"Again!"

And yet my words were cut off again. Unheard. Ignored. As Greek fire once again roared out of the ship toward the already burning corpse of the Cook.

It did not took long before I saw the Cook again...brought back as a zombie.

Such inhuman things happening aboard that ship!

As I lied down to sleep for the first time in weeks, on a hammock, I realized, it had all just began for me...


	6. Chapter 6

**- Chapter 6 -**

That night, inside the main cabin, Olivia sat on the bunk with her back on some propped up pillows. The sapphire ring on her left hand glistened under the dim light of the lamp she was using as she held up the book she was reading.

Her husband, Barbossa, was busy adding up some toad's entrails on the blade of his sword at his table, having with himself another lamp for his use. The entrails were poisonous, giving the sword a rather "venomous advantage", as Barbossa had called it.

For the first time in the last five minutes that passed, Olivia suddenly looked up toward the direction of her husband, who was as busy as he could get with his back to her. She let out a heavy sigh before setting aside her book and got out of bed. She crossed the distance toward her husband, only slightly startling him when she placed a careful hand on his shoulder, as he gave her a quick glance up before turning his attention back to work.

"Give it a rest, love," she told him softly. "You'll have plenty of time tomorrow for that."

"In a minute," replied the privateer, smoothing the poison on the metal blade.

The brunette sighed. "Leave it for tomorrow. It's already dark. What would I do if you get cut by your own blade?"

Looking up to his wife rather sharply, Barbossa made an accusing look on his face. "Are ye sayin' me eyesight's bad, woman?" he demanded, but Olivia just shook her head, trying hard not to smile.

"No," she replied. "I'm just saying that a man needs his rest. Now, wouldn't you agree?"

Her voice was sweet, but it left a sign that she did not want to prolong this argument. And so, after a sigh of defeat, Barbossa eventually got up, sheathed his sword in place, and waved for his wife to go and wait for him at their bunk. After removing his effects, when he did came to join his wife, she was already tucked between the sheets, but she was still wide awake.

His blue gaze never left her face the same way her eyes never left his. They were still looking into each other's eyes when Barbossa had laid himself on the bunk. His goodnight to his beloved wife before closing his eyes was lightly putting his finger on the tip of her nose. Her hand was rested near him on the pillow, as Olivia took hold of it and went to sleep herself.

Unknown to both, that somewhere, in a far off island, their son was in bed as well. He had in his hand the Aztec medallion his mother gave him when he was still very small. The face of the grinning skull looked back at him, but he wasn't really seeing it.

Victor's thoughts were that of his parents. He wondered everyday where they were, what they were doing, and if he would ever see them again. None of those questions were answered so far, but he was hoping that the answer to the last question would be a solid "yes".

He placed the metallic chain around his neck, but his thumb still caressed the face of the skull in the medallion. Looking out into the middle distance, his mind was still full of thoughts about his parents. Even as he closed his eyes, even as he fell asleep, with hopes that he might at least dream about them...

* * *

><p>The sun shown down upon the deck of the <em>HMS Providence<em>, where the crew was gathered.

"Who said we were heading to Whitecap Bay?" asked Groves to one sailor.

The sailor he asked looked to another sailor, who only looked toward Gibbs.

"Mr. Gibbs?"

Gibbs, hesitated, but defended himself either way. "It ain't my fault if some of these men here knew about the waters we're heading for."

After reassuring the crew that he would ask the man in charge first for confirmation, Groves went up to the quarterdeck. Further aft, he saw sitting by a table covered with white clothing, Barbossa eating cut apples and drinking rum in a teacup, and his wife, drinking tea.

"Sir," he said, clasping his hands behind him, keeping his voice formal.

The brunette seated across the table from the privateer glared up at the lieutenant commander. "Mr. Groves, can you not see I'm trying to have a decent cup of tea with my husband?" she said. "What is it this time?"

Having eaten a slice of apple from, Barbossa only chuckled at his wife's annoyance, and waved at it dismissively with a gloved hand. "Aye?" he said to Groves as a reply.

"Captain. Sir," said Groves. "I am unhappy to report rumors, sir, amongst the crew as to our destination."

Looking over to his shoulder, the privateer only said, "Shut yer trap and make way."

Exhaling air through his nose, Groves did not move an inch, as the privateer reached for his crutch, stood up, and faced him. "That's the way of it then?"

"No disrespect, _sir._"

Barbossa did not like the tone of his officer's voice, but he let it slip. Instead, he decided to ask what the rumors was about, though he already had an idea. "What do the men fear? Say it, speak the words."

"Whitecap Bay."

Olivia sighed, she watched silently from under her cup as Barbossa walked over near the helm to address the crew and listened as he confirmed their destination.

"Aye, Whitecap Bay," came Barbossa's voice. "Every worthless seamen fears the name, and rightly so. Though few know why or dare to ask."

"Be the stories true?" That was Gibbs's voice.

"Say what robs you of your staunch heart Gibbs, or forever leave it to the whiter fields of fancy."

Olivia didn't hear what Gibbs reply was, but she need not to. She knew of it ever since from the very start, when she found out about their destination.

"Aye. Mermaids." Barbossa's voice was raise so that it would be loud enough for the entire crew on deck to hear him. "Sea ghouls, devil fish, dreadful in hunger for flesh of men. Mermaid waters that be our path." And he added it with one sentence of warning to Gibbs. "Cling to your soul, Gibbs, as mermaids are given to take the rest, to the bone."

There was a commotion among the crew, followed by an order of "Steady men!" from Groves. "Or be ready to purpose your fear."

Olivia heard one of the crew shouted something that she believed was "Save yourselves" and was followed by a splash of water as though someone had just jumped overboard.

Though Groves ordered for the man to be hauled back up, it was Barbossa who would have the last words.

_Go ahead_, she thought to herself._ Impress me. Show me. How are you suppose to keep the crew together now?_

"Gentlemen."

Hearing that tone, she realized this was one of those speeches.

"I shall not ask any more than of any man than what that man can deliver, but I do ask this: are we not King's men?"

She replaced her teacup on the table, listening more intently.

The question was followed by a hesitant "Aye" amongst the crew.

"On the King's mission?"

The crew answered again.

"I did not note any fear in the eyes of the Spanish as they passed us by. Are we not King's men?"

This time it was followed by a more enthusiastic roar of "AYE!"

"Aye!" echoed Barbossa. "Hands aloft and bare away. Stave on ahead to Whitecap Bay."

As soon as her husband joined her once again at the table, she was smiling.

It wasn't long before he noticed.

"What?" he demanded from her.

She only raised her cup of tea and said, "To Whitecap Bay?"

He smirked and raised his own cup of rum and said, "Nay. To revenge."

Their cups clinked together...

* * *

><p>Having arrived at Whitecap Bay the day after was not how Olivia had always imagined it. But then again, perhaps it didn't matter as long as they arrived ashore, and rather safely at that.<p>

As they stepped ashore with a handful of the crew, Olivia had kept an eye on the ship afloat from afar. Her attention was only diverted away from the vessel when she saw Barbossa kicked on a nearby dead mermaid with his peg leg. She had nudged her husband at the rib and made a clicking sound between her teeth in an attempt to tell him that he shouldn't have done that. But the privateer only shrugged his shoulders with the looks on his face that seem to ask "What?"

When Groves walked over to the dead body of the mermaid, he almost couldn't believe his eyes, as the lieutenant commander knelt down on one knee beside it. "My God," he had said almost to himself. "Is that...?"

"Mermaids," Gibbs had finished for him, who had stepped over ahead of the group. "Stop this madness now," he said to Barbossa. But it was followed by a very determined "I cannot".

"We've come this far already," said Olivia, as though to defend her husband. "There is no turning back."

"Ever walk on the beach, look back, and see your footsteps in the sand?" asked Barbossa, wanting to explain his drive to continue. "It's like that, except the footsteps lie before me."

When the privateer stepped over the dead mermaid's body, Gillette corrected with, "Foot_step_, actually."

That somehow stop the privateer. "_What?_" he asked with a dangerous voice, as he looked over his shoulder.

Before Gillette could reply, Olivia stepped in. "Mr. Gillette," she said to the officer, "for the duration of this journey, I expect you to know when to open your mouth and when to shut it. Understand?"

After looking over to his commanding officer, then back to the woman, Gillette swallowed before he nodded. "Y-Yes, ma'am. My apologies, sir."

At that moment, Groves had stood up. "Whitecap Bay, sir. We must hasten."

Just then, screams were heard from aboard the_ Providence_.

Mermaids were the attacking the ship. Everyone stood horrified by the site. Everyone except Barbossa, who turned his attention to Gibbs and said in a voice loud enough for him to be heard by everyone present, "We travel by foot. Gibbs, I require a heading."

But Groves had something different in mind. "Sir, the men..."

"They be dead already."

Olivia was just silent. She had looked away from the ship, and to her husband. It was so cold of him, but she agreed because it had good reason.

"They don't sound dead," Groves said, furious of how this man in front of him would say such words so calmly as though what was happening to the crew was expected, or normal.

"Oh, is that so?" Barbossa pulled out his pistol and pointed it from under Groves's chin. This was where Olivia stepped in between the two men, having a hand on her husband's arm that was clutching the pistol.

She looked over to Groves. "There is nothing we can do for them now."

"So we just let them die?" the officer asked incredulous. Groves anger was building, Olivia saw that in his eyes. _He doesn't understand_, she thought.

"What do we have against those creatures?" she said. "How can we save the men if the moment we get on water they would attack us too? Then we'll all end up food to man-eating sirens."

"Well I hear nothin' but, seagulls, nestin'," said Barbossa, his pistol still aimed at Groves. "What is it that you hear, Mr. Groves?" he asked.

The officer considered it all for a moment. He looked over to Olivia, then back to the privateer. "Seagulls. Nesting," he said. "Nothing more."

Both Barbossa and Groves then looked over to Gibbs.

"Heading, Gibbs?" demanded the privateer.

But as Gibbs sighed, his attention was brought back to the vessel still quite afloat from afar, so was the rest. They watched as the Providence tilted on one side, but Olivia on the other hand looked away. On that moment, she caught sight of Barbossa walking over to Gibbs, aiming a pistol at the seasoned sailor, and was ready with a threat.

"Your head or me heading. I'll have me one or the other, I don't care which!"

Gibbs did not need anymore convincing than that, and headed out, leading the way.

"All hands, forward!" Gillette had called out to the handful of men.

After they had entered the jungle, Olivia carefully placed a hand on her husband's shoulder.

"You don't need that anymore," she said when Barbossa met her gaze, as she indicated the pistol. "He won't try anything as of now. He doesn't have a choice."

Looking over to the white-haired man ahead of him, Barbossa lowered his pistol.

"We're gettin' close," he said in a lowered voice.


	7. Chapter 7

**- Chapter 7 -**

Jack ran. He ran through the jungle, across the white sandy beach, and he ran some more. He ran as though Blackbeard's dark and menacing gaze followed him still, though he was already far away.

He had just been convinced, (rather threateningly, at that), to go jump over a cliff and get the Silver chalices for Blackbeard after an argument of whether which among him and Angelica would go. He had to go through a pistol test from Blackbeard concerning that he (Jack) would choose which pistols are not loaded, since only two of them were loaded, and then Blackbeard would have to test it on Angelica. Though Jack was convinced that all pistols were not loaded at all, he realized Blackbeard wasn't fooling with him when he chose one that he fired through the air and it made the loud 'BANG!' sound, proof that it was loaded.

It was the voodoo doll test that made him jump. The doll was made by Blackbeard himself, and was made in exactly Jack's image. The Quartermaster threw the doll, and since Jack was still alive, the zombiefied officer concluded that Jack would live if he were to jump.

It was dark already when he eventually reached the Santiago, the famed ship of Ponce de Len. The ship was dangerously located near the edge of a cliff and it was a wonder how it got stuck there all these years without having fallen. But Jack had no time to think about such a thing, as he went inside, went up to the captain's cabin, and found himself emerging into a room filled with treasures.

He looked around for a bit, then having caught sight of the corpse at the bed, he said to himself, "Ponce de León." When he started climbing up he stopped again with his hands up (in its usual so-Jack-Sparrow kind of way), as a voice came all of a sudden saying, "If forty pirates dreamt forty nights of treasure, it would not amount to match the contents of this room."

Jack tilted his head, squinting his eyes a little, having assured himself that he found the owner of the voice and that he was looking at him. Jack smirked. "You."

The dark figure stood up from a chair, turned around with already a pistol in hand, and said, "You."

It was Barbossa himself.

Jack took one step forward, "No," he said, as he drew out his sword, "you."

Well, taking the chalices wasn't going to be easy after all...

* * *

><p>"So what's your play, Mrs. Barbossa?"<p>

Olivia had turned to look over Gibbs, who was seated on a huge boulder.

They have all decided to take a rest before continuing the journey to the rendezvous point where they were to meet up with Barbossa.

"What are you talking about, Master Gibbs?" she asked, uninteresdly.

The old sailor only chuckled. "I know you to be one who doesn't want anythin' to do or meddle with immortality."

Olivia sighed irritatingly. She knew that eventually, Gibbs would have his way in getting it out of her. So, she turned to him, sadness and sorrow behind her eyes, and said in a grave voice, "My son."

For a long moment, Gibbs was speechless. His lips started to make movements but no sound came out. He turned toward the men; they were crowded together and yet too close in earshot distance. He decided to whisper the question he had in mind, but when he looked back up to the brunette, the unreadable expression on her face was enough.

She was looking away from him already.

Gibbs hesitated, and whispered the question anyway, "He's not among the living, then?"

No answer came, not a nod nor a shook of the head.

Well, the silence from her was enough answer anyway.

"Let's go." Olivia suddenly stood up and went walking away.

She was already ten feet off before the rest was able to catch up with her.

* * *

><p>It was minutes later after Jack and Barbossa fought with the possession of a box which they believed held the chalices, tilting the boat this way and that only to find out that it was empty and that the Spanish got to them first. And it was minutes more before they decided to work together, and locate the Spanish camp. It was a long walk all the way from the ship, but it could have been a quiet walk if only Jack wouldn't stop rambling about how he ended up aboard the <em>Queen Anne's Revenge<em> and mentions about Blackbeard's daughter, Angelica, once or twice.

Needless to say, Barbossa did his best to keep his cool around Jack, rolling his eyes once or twice and sighing out his irritation more than he could count as time ticked on.

Then suddenly, surprisingly, Jack stopped talking. Though he truly did not want to, since he knew what would happen if he did, there was this itching urge to look over to the eccentric pirate, so Barbossa did. When both men's gazes met, Jack opened his mouth again, but this time, with a question, "So how exactly did you convince Livvie to come along? I mean, I know she's not one to put up with immortality."

Barbossa's expressions were neutral, as he turned and went on, Jack only hesitating a heartbeat or so before following after the privateer.

"Our son," said Barbossa.

Jack frowned. "What?"

"Our son," repeated Barbossa, not caring to stop. "Her's and mine."

Jack's mouth remained open without a single word coming out of it for a few seconds before he spoke again. "You and Livvie have a son?" He really couldn't believe it.

"_Had_," corrected the privateer, pausing once to look at the pirate straight in they eyes. "He's dead." Then he walked on once more, with Jack hesitating again before following.

"My condolences," Jack said. It was the only thing it came to mind, and seemed to be the only proper thing to say.

The duration of their walk was silent until they finally reached the rendezvous point where Barbossa was suppose to meet his men. It didn't took long before the other's arrived, with Gibbs half-shouted and half-whispered Jack's name, causing Barbossa to hiss at him in an attempt to say "silence" and gestured to join Jack and he.

As Gibbs joined Jack's side, Olivia knelt behind her husband, whom had held her hand the moment she positioned herself from behind him.

"Gibbs," greeted Jack to the old sailor with a smile. "I was just on me way to get you out of jail." Gibbs only made a look, which could have said "Yeah, right" sprinkled with sarcasm all over. And then, Jack's tone changed, along with his expressions.

"You stole my map," he said, and flicked a finger on the bridge of Gibbs's nose.

"Right," said Barbossa all of a sudden, both he and Olivia stood. "Best be startin'."

Jack fell behind a little while longer, and with a smile on his face said, "Olé."

Moments later, when they finally reached a certain river or swamp that leads to the Spanish camp, they first gathered around for the two (Jack and Barbossa) to decide who would have to infiltrate the camp.

"Let me go with you," volunteered Olivia.

"No," was Barbossa's quick and ready response, while not risking so much of a glance to his wife.

Before Olivia could argue on that, Jack fell beside Barbossa.

"Stealth over forces," Jack said as Barbossa listened, willing to give an ear on what his old-time enemy would want to say. "I'll take it from here on behalf of your..." Jack looked down on Barbossa's peg leg," ...condition. You don't have termites, do you?"

Barbossa forced a smile. "I appreciate your concern, Jack, but I'll be keepin' you company all the same." He then turned toward his men. "Wait here, leftenant-commander. Wait for me signal." Then, turning to his wife, "M'dear..."

"I know, I know," Olivia sighed heavily. "Keep them in line."

He smiled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving with Jack.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** "Yeah, veeeery short chapter, I know. *siiiiiigh* The real world is suddenly pushing itself. I got lot's of things to do at school. Review anyway, mateys."


	8. Chapter 8

**- Chapter 8 -**

_"We were off the coast of Hispaniola when we came under attack. No provocation nor warning or offer of parley. We were peppered with cannon fire. And then the sea beneath the Pearl began to roil. The Pearl was pitching and yawing so violently and every rail and spar all at once began to creak-the rigging had come to life! Our own ship turned against us. Tangling the crew, wrapping them like snakes... and wrapping around my leg! But my arms were free and my sword was still in my hand. I am the master of my ship, not Blackbeard. I am the master of my fate, not Blackbeard! So I did what needed done... I survived."_

Still, Jack couldn't help but ask, "And...your son?"

As Barbossa tried answering that question, Olivia was finished telling Gibbs her view of the incident that night. Just telling was too much to her. At least where Victor was concerned.

She told the old sailor about how she was about to tuck her son to bed, when the cannon fire was heard. Then more came. Victor just jumped up, crying to his father, and went for the doors of the cabin. That was when a cannon came flying in the very same cabin. When she picked up her son, she quickly wrapped a blanket around the boy, not certain whether he was still breathing or what. But she truly didn't want to think about it at the moment.

When she got out of deck, everything was like a nightmare. The crew were all dangling high up the rigging, all dead. They were all hanged to death. Only when Barbossa cried in pain and fell on a nearby longboat did she remembered what they should do - Abandon ship.

It was not an easy job, lowering the longboat by herself, tying up a cloth on Barbossa's already cut leg, and rowing as far away as possible as she watched the Pearl disappear. She didn't know where she was going, but she kept rowing either way. Only when she got tired did she checked the bloody blanket which was wrapped around her son. And only then did she realized, as she picked up the the bundle, that her son was dead.

She didn't went on telling Gibbs that it was Tia Dalma, or Calypso, that found them. There was no need to elaborate just how exactly did they (Barbossa and her) had ended up in London with a plan for revenge.

"Ma'am?"

Groves had called to her attention for the fourth time before she realized he was talking to her.

"What?" she said in as demanding a voice as she could muster, looking up to him.

The lieutenant-commander had to take in a few seconds before answering. "We are waiting for your orders, _ma'am_, since now would be the time to think of a plan because the Captain, your husband, and Jack Sparrow has been captured by the Spanish."

She stood up from where she was kneeling on the ground. "We do nothing."

"What?"

Looking back to the officer, she said, "That's Jack Sparrow out there," she jerked her head toward the direction, "and if anything, he's probably planning something by now."

"But-" The officer was about to contest this but he wasn't able to say anything further when Olivia flashed him a venomous glare. Well, she did learn a few things from her husband after all.

"We. Do. _Nothing_," she repeated with much emphasis on the last word. "Sparrow will make something happen, and whatever it is I'm sure it will be _something_ to distract the guards. When that happens, you free my husband from his bonds."

Gibbs suddenly came up from behind. He looked over to Olivia then back to Groves twice before saying, "I'm with the lady on this one." The officer gave him a look. "Just sayin', is all. Thought I might let ya know."

The officer looked from the sailor, back to the brunette, for three times before sighing and gave in. "Alright. So it would seem to me that we will be _waiting_ for something to happen. Can anyone tell me what is that exactly?"

Groves knew that asking the question was unnecessary, deep down inside, he already knew the answer long before Olivia even replied,

"We'll know it when we see it..."

* * *

><p>"So..." Jack started to speak once more, having felt his hands slowly slipped out of its bonds, "you're not after the Fountain...?"<p>

In return, Barbossa looked away, "I care not for King George or tavern yarns that give hope to a healed limb," he responded. "But I'd give me left arm to have but a chance at Blackbeard."

"Not your right?" asked Jack, a casual smile on his face.

"I need me good arm to drive my poisoned plank through his...heart."

"I'll see you get the chance, mate."

Before Barbossa could ask what Jack meant, he looked up only to have said younger pirate's hands shown to him - it was unbounded. As Jack tried to stand up on his feet, Barbossa looked over to direction where the guards might be, as though he can prevent them being find out though he was bound to the palm tree. But as Jack was almost half-way to the top, Barbossa made that look on his face that says he wasn't certain what exactly the misfit climbing the tree would do upon reaching the topmost part.

When Jack eventually reached the top of the tree, he used the rope, tied it to a fruit of the tree and did his magic. Using one arm, the fruit still tied to the rope circled over head before Jack threw it to the nearest tree. The rope circled around the trunk and tied itself securely, Jack strained and pulled with all his strength, until the tree bent. Then, he used it to slingshot himself to another tree.

During all this stunt, the guards were alerted and ran off to where Jack landed, and as the Spaniards went off to capture their prisoner, Groves crawled over to Barbosssa's side to free the privateer.

"I figured that was the signal," the officer said to his superior.

As the two went off to make their escape, Jack was just finishing up with a few Spanish soldiers...

* * *

><p>Calypso watched at a distance as her lover boarded a ship she had just brought back from the depths of the sea. Though it had been years since Jones last set foot on a ship, or have ever sailed on any, he was a sailor by heart and that wouldn't change. And she couldn't blame him for his love of the sea, being a sea goddess herself.<p>

She turned her attention toward the lad standing beside her, his eyes as blue as his father's, were also focused at the ghostly ship from afar. His expression was out of wondering but no curiosity.

"How do ya find de ship?" the sea goddess decided to ask.

Victor looked up to the sea goddess smiling down on him, and looked back to the ship far off the coast before answering. "I don't know much of ships, but it does look eerie," he admitted, "Other than that, I suppose it could sail just fine since its floating and seemed to be in good condition. But I can't be certain since I can only see it from afar."

Once again he looked up to her. "But why are you asking me?"

"Because," she said, "de ship der be de one we use ta go to ya parents."

There was a glitter of surprise, happiness, and excitement in the lad's blue eyes, it was as if he was asking the sea goddess in his mind: _Truly?_

"Tomorrow, we sail," Calypso said, patting the lad on the head. "Much to ya liking, yes?"

The lad gave her a tight hug and she welcomed it with equal warmth. She continued to pat his brunette hair while looking out to the horizon. She only wish that the lad's parents would be finished with their business before she could give back the lad.

* * *

><p>Barbossa and Olivia shared a look with each other.<p>

Jack had confidently proposed a plan to get what they want, and more importantly, to ensure that he'd stay alive once he meet up again with Blackbeard and his crew. Or at least until he made it to the Fountain.

"Just think about it, mate," he said to the couple, whom both looked back to him.

"An ambush be a good idea, Jack," replied Barbossa, "but how can I be sure that ye won't betray me?"

Jack made a look of offense. "Me?" he gestured a hand to himself. "Betray you?" Barbossa gave him a look. "I see your point," he admitted, "Still, how could I possibly get out of there alive on me onesee? Mr. Beard as we speak, doesn't trust me to a point."

"Any pirate worth his salt and knows of you wouldn't trust you 'to a point'," Olivia chimed in, using Jack's words on him.

"Listen, luv," the eccentric pirate insisted, "he expects me to lead him to the Fountain, and there's no reason why I shouldn't, eh? Right? Second of all, he doesn't know that there's a small band of the King's Navy here on the island so he couldn't possibly be expecting an ambush. I swear on my mother's shrunken head that I will not interfere with you, so long as you leave me be on my own business."

"Business of what?" said the brunette. "To obtain immortality? Please. I know you Jack. You wouldn't sacrifice an innocent man's life just for your own dreams and ambitions."

"My business aside," said Jack, becoming impatient, "the question here is whether you like the plan, or not?" He held out a hand to Barbossa. "What do you say, mate?"

The couple shared one more look with each other before Barbossa finally took Jack's hand in his.

Later the next day, Jack went off with Gibbs, along with the chalices. Barbossa and the others went off to be ready for the ambush, he was confident that nothing would go wrong and that finally, he could come face-to-face with Blackbeard. The only thing that worried him that day was his wife.

Olivia had been making that look on her face that didn't quite settle with her husband. But if he couldn't figure it out, she couldn't either. She had been having this strange feeling since she woke up that morning. What bothered her more was the fact that the feeling was making her think about her late son. This had went on for quite some time before Barbossa finally decided to ask her about what was wrong.

"What is it?" he asked.

"What?" She looked up only to see her husband looking intently at her. And a little worried, at that. "Nothing," she shook her had. "Nothing at all."

He knew she was lying but he didn't press more on the matter, as they were already reaching the cave that which lead them, finally, to the Fountain of Youth.

They all went inside, deeper into the cave until they reached what appeared to be a dead end.

"Well," said Gillette, "this is rather disappointing."

Groves on the other hand looked up expectantly to his superior officer. "What do you plan to do now, sir?"

Barbossa was silent for a long moment.

"He said something about what's written on the Chalices," said Olivia, looking up to her husband.

"There be a word engraved on each," he replied. "I saw it meself."

There was a long silence before Barbossa mentioned the words "Aqua de Vida".

At first nothing happened, then suddenly water from somewhere gradually rose and started crawling up the walls of the cave, forming a puddle above the ceiling. Everyone was astonished by what happened, they all stared at the puddle above their heads.

Suddenly remembering himself, Barbossa called for one of his men and had the man kneel on one knee. Climbing on the sailor's back, Barbossa reached a hand to the puddle until he was suddenly sucked into it. He then found himself, for real, in the Fountain of Youth.

Olivia appeared right after him shortly, then the rest of his men followed.

"We're here," the brunette said, breathlessly, in a whisper. "We're actually here."

"Aye," Barbossa agreed. "That we are."

They were all just taking in their surroundings when they heard a voice that which broke the eerie silence.

_"Sparrow, I'll be the first to taste those waters."_

"Could it be?" Groves asked no one in particular.

"Blackbeard." Olivia whispered the name as though it was so fragile it might break once it escapes her lips.

Moving forward, Barbossa went for the direction of the voice, his men and his wife following him closely behind.

* * *

><p>Just as Jack was about to touch with his own fingers the fabled waters, Blackbeard shouted from behind him.<p>

"Sparrow, I'll be the first to taste those waters."

Suddenly, Angelica sensed unwanted presence of other people. "Father!" she called out.

Blackbeard looked toward his Quartermaster. "The one-legged man?" The zombie Quartermaster only nodded.

"You brought him here!" Angelica angrily accused Jack. But the eccentric pirate only held up his hand in fake innocence. "Would I do that?" he said to her.

"Edward Teach!"

Out from the mist, a small band of the King's Royal Navy appeared led by the one-legged man destined to kill Edward "Blackbeard" Teach: Hector Barbossa.

"For crimes committed on the high seas," Barbossa begun, "by the authority granted to me by His Majesty the King, with the goodly amount of _personal_ satisfaction, I hereby place you in the custody of the court, and declare you to be my prisoner."_  
><em>

"My trick's out, is that it?" said Blackbeard, inching his way toward_ destiny_.

"Such crimes to include," _destiny_ spoke again, "but are not limited to piracy, treason, murder, torture of the most heinous sort, including the brutal theft of one used, twisted, hairy right leg!"

Here, the privateer drew out his sword at his side, ready to fulfill the prophecy.

"You dare face _this_ sword?" replied the legendary feared pirate, having pulled out his own sword, indicating it.

Her sword already in hand, Olivia's heartbeat had skipped to a faster pace. She was nervous, excited, yet patient at the same time.

"This far away form your ship? Aye." Barbossa was so pleased, enough to allow himself a smirk.

"Aye," Blackbeard agreed, finally accepting the fact that Fate had caught up to him. "That be the cold breath of Fate I feel down my nape. But, I'll have one last fight, by God. Kill them all!"

Both crews pulled out their weapons to fight.


	9. Chapter 9

**- Chapter 9 -**

Victor looked too unsettled for his own good that Jones couldn't help but notice it so himself. And yet, he couldn't get himself to approach the lad. And so since he wasn't certain about how to approach the boy, he turned to his lover and asked whether she could give a hand. The sea goddess only replied with a smile before walking over to the lad, who was currently standing by the railings, looking down on the white foams that bubbled up the surface of the Caribbean sea as the ship passed by.

"Troubled, child?" Calypso's voice caused Victor to look away from the sea, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"I couldn't help but think, I suppose," he admitted, slightly surprising the sea goddess.

"You'h parents?" The lad nodded. She nodded in return. In truth, she didn't know what to say to the lad. She could only promise him that he would see his parents again, but Victor worried his pretty little head off with many things which concerned perhaps mostly of "what if's".

"How can the ship sail with only three people aboard?"

The sudden question was unexpected, and so the only reaction Calypso could do was to look down on the redhead lad.

When their eyes met, she could only smile. "You do not yet trust my powa'h, child? Even ta dis day?" she decided to ask. His reply was a shrug of his shoulders. She definitely couldn't help but admire this boy. She would later tell her lover that there was nothing to worry about the young Master Barbossa.

Victor knew it himself; that his small efforts of reassuring his nervousness was that obvious to the goddess. But it was the least he could do at least for himself. Better to know how a "normal" ship sails rather than nervously anticipate meeting parents who thought you dead for years.

* * *

><p><strong>Philip's P.O.V.<strong>

If anyone was to be blamed, it was me. If it were not for me, Serena wouldn't be here, hands and wrists tied with only half in water and half above. They said that a mermaid was to die slowly in that manner, and I couldn't let that happen to her. I just cannot! But what could I have possibly done? I was helpless myself when we left her there, surrounded by her sisters, to her death.

In truth I do not know her real name. I only named her Serena when I got furious at the black-hearted captain by referring to her as "the creature".

I first met her at that accursed place. They said that at the night of a full moon was the perfect time to hunt for a mermaid. I was one of those among the crew chosen to be bait, set on board a longboat a great distance from the ship and the others, with the Gunner with us.

As we waited, Ezekiel, the oldest among the crew, told of what he knew about mermaids. He said that mermaids are all female, whose beauty is beyond what you have seen on Earth. Said that they would enchant their victims with that beauty, and slowly lead them down to the sea, drown them, before eating them. Scrum took it in another idea. Twisted it so to his own liking. That was when the Gunner suddenly ordered Scrum to sing, said that mermaids were attracted to singing. Scrum did, rather hesitantly. We joined him as well when the Gunner demanded that the singing be made more loudly.

Some time later, we had our first encounter with mermaids. It was like the calm before the storm. The first of them enchanted Scrum rather successfully, but we managed to save him before he got drowned and become food to the fish.

The horror of that encounter. That night. Men screaming in horror.

He expects us to capture one who's breathing? How? From what happened that night it was apparent that those creatures would not be willing to be captured alive!

Alas, it was I who was able to give the "good captain" what he wanted. A mermaid, alive and breathing.

I thought she was trying to attack me. I would find out later that she tried to save my life.

The moment I opened my eyes and caught sight of a large fishtail, I groped for the hilt of my sword and stabbed the tail so that the creature would not be able to escape. That was the first time I've set eyes on her beautiful face.

It was a young, innocent-looking face, the kind of face you wouldn't expect from a creature who has an appetite for sailors. Her dark curling hair clung to her face as I took in more of her beauty. She looked back to me with a mixture of - what I believe was - fear and wonder.

Then the net went down on her.

All throughout our journey through the treacherous jungle, I found myself getting closer to her. I have even offered her my shirt when the glass coffin filled with water where she was put fell, spilling her out along with the water. It was then that I realized mermaids loose their tails when on dry land. And upon loosing her tail, she was completely naked. For the sake of decency, I had to offer what clothing I had.

Despite having legs, I should have known she couldn't walk. At least she said she can't. So I also offered to carry her. I even so much as looked up to the Captain and said, "We are in a hurry, yes?" as though I was the one who would not put up with too much delay in our journey.

He only answered back with, "Do not fall behind."

And now, as we have finally found the location of the Fountain of Youth, we also found an ambush waiting for us. It seems Miss Angelica thought this was all Jack's doing. Personally, I was a bit glad that Jack did it, if the First Mate's accusation was indeed true.

As I waited for what I know was an inevitable clash between the crew of pirates and the small band of the King's Navy, I already had a plan in mind: Get out as quickly as possible amidst all the chaos, and get back to Serena to save her...

* * *

><p><strong>Serena's P.O.V.<strong>

Half under water, and half above. My hands tied firmly, I could not so much as move anymore. I can feel myself getting weaker as time passes. And yet all I thought of was Philip.

I shed a tear for him, when he came back, alive, to set me free from my bonds. Though I gave him a glare before they left me, I knew that he was innocent. That he was only used by that pirate to have my tear.

Mortal men would do anything to gain eternal life. Even if it meant death of another.

Thoughts of death may have came over me, but thoughts of Philip conquered my mind. How I wish I could see him once again. I was right. He was different from them. It was the look in his eyes. His face. The way he speak to me. He even gave me a name.

"Philip..." I heared myself whisper his name before I closed my eyes, wishing it would not be the last time.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** "Quite short, I know, but I'm losing a few ideas on this chapter. Getting near to the last chapter here. Whew! R&R, please, he heh."


	10. Chapter 10

**- Chapter 10 -**

Just as both parties drew out their weapons, someone shouted for an immediate halt to the eventually inevitable battle that would happen.

"WAIT!"

Everyone turned to look at Jack, arms spread high to put emphasis to his word. When he noticed both the pirate crew and the Royal Navy had froze on their position and was staring at him, he proceeded to stand up straighter and went on to informing them what he had in mind.

"Hang on a minute. I just...I just need to understand something. Right, so you will fight against them, they will fight against you," he said, addressing both crews, "all on account of him" - he pointed at Barbossa - "wanting to kill him?" - he pointed at Blackbeard. He turned back to the men. "Where is the sense?" he asked. He caught sight of Scrum who shrugged as an answer. "Exactly," he nodded, gesturing a hand to the sailor. "I say, let them fight each other!" He emphasized the last word with a stomp of his boot on the rocky surface where he stood. "While we lay back, watch. Have a drink, place some wager. Eh?"

Silence.

"Right," said Scrum, proceeding to put his cutlass back to its sheath.

More silence.

Blackbeard eyed Barbossa as though waiting for some kind of response.

Barbossa looked over to where Olivia stood, whom met his gaze with one dark brow cocked up. When he looked back up he shouted his order answered by Blackbeard with only two words that meant just the same.

"Kill them all!"

"No quarter!"

The fight eventually ensued, with Jack getting out of the way, Philip successfully escaped but with a wound, and two men right in the middle of it all locked in a duel to the death. Meanwhile Olivia tried her best to stay away from the zombies that Jack had told her about. It wasn't that hard to pick out the two hulking undead from among Blackbeard's crew.

But as she navigated her way through Angelica blocked her path with a sword ready in hand. From the looks on the Latin girl's face, it would appear that Olivia was going to find herself in a fight. Though she intended to make it short.

"Olivia," greeted Angelica.

"Hello, my dear Angelica," the brunette greeted back. "Long time."

"What are you doing with the Royal Navy?" Angelica demanded. To which the brunette's simple reply were two words: "My husband."

Confused, but for a moment, Angelica frowned at the brunette in front of her. It eventually dawned upon her when she caught sight of her father dueling with the privateer.

"The one-legged man?" She almost did not want to say it out loud. Olivia gave a nod. "But why? What could you possibly have in return from having my father killed?"

"Me and Hector are here for one purpose alone," came the answer, Olivia's flashing gray eyes grew even more serious, "Revenge. For a lost ship. A lost leg. But most importantly, a lost child. My child. _Our_ child."

For a moment Angelica was speechless. She stood there almost feeling like a fool, her guard slowly lowered.

"Funny how Fate plays with human life, yes?"

Another short moment of silence from the Spanish girl, then suddenly Olivia found herself dodging a blow from a sword. The two women then parried along, the metal of their blades ringing in the air, joining in the battle noises around them. But Olivia did no intend to fight, she quickly drew away from Angelica and held out a hand, "Wait!"

Just as Angelica froze, a little confused even, Olivia quickly added, "Are you certain you should be wasting your time parrying with me?" Then she nodded her head toward Jack's direction where Angelica saw said misfit trying to steal the chalices from a struggling Scrum.

"The Chalices," Angelica said in a breathy whisper, leaving the brunette alone, finally. She was cursing Jack under her breath along the way, accompanied with chaotic thoughts as to what she would do once Sparrow gets his hands on the items.

Just as soon as the Latin girl left, Olivia brought her eyes back to the duel destined to happen by Fate. She was hoping that eventually it would happen the way "the prophecy" said it would. Or the way it _should_. Whichever way, she was praying for Hector to come out the victor.

"YOU!"

Olivia looked up to her right only to see the zombiefied Gunner standing before her, ready to strike her with his sword. Thanks to her experience with sword fighting and those few moments of friendly parry with her husband, she successfully block the strike with her own sword. As she turned to run away from the hulking Gunner she realized that the Quartermaster was there too. She was caught in between the two undead, nowhere to run. Wondering how in the World was she brought to such a predicament, she asked them, "What do you want from me?"

She got no answer.

As the two undead rushed toward her, she leapt down from the high rock where she stood and tumbled on the watery ground below. A pirate suddenly came up and rushed at her for a attack but she quickly stabbed him with her sword. After having made her first kill of the day, she looked back to the zombie officers and realized that they were just standing there, unmoving. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she followed their gazes. What she saw caused her to freeze where she stood.

Barbossa was on the ground, Blackbeard was standing over him.

She instinctively made to rush over to her husband's side, but the sound of the cocking of a pistol stopped her. Turning around, she found the Quartermaster aiming his pistol at her. She cursed under her breath as she turned her gaze back to her husband.

Barbossa took up his sword in hand and touched the tip of it's blade on the blade of Blackbeard's own sword. Olivia found herself once again bewildered. There was a smile on Barbossa's face.

"I will not have that smile on your face as I strike you down," said Blackbeard, a little annoyed at the privateer.

Looking up to meet the pirate's gaze, Barbossa replied, "Take a gander, Edward Teach."

The pirate did, so did Olivia.

Out of the mist came out the Spanish, all armed and ready to do what they came for to do. The fighting had stopped because of the new presence among them, also because this new party heavily outnumbered both the English Naval and the pirates. Suddenly, Groves came running over toward a rock, carrying the Union Jack with him, giving but a glance of pity over the dead body of Gillette.

The Naval officer climbed the rock and spread his arms to reveal the Union Jack to the Spanish. He was declaring the Fountain now belonging to his King (King George) when he was cut off by a bullet through his heart.

Everyone turned to see it was the leader of the Spanish that shot the English Naval officer.

"Someone make note of that man's bravery," the Spaniard said to a nearby soldier of his. He then noticed where Jack, Scrum and Angelica were standing. As soon as Jack noticed the Spaniard's gaze on them, he gave the Chalices to Angelica so as to shift the attention away from him. Angelica looked at the misfit as though she couldn't believe how he acted, though she did took the Chalices.

The Spanish leader approached, stretched out a hand, and said to the Latin girl, " _Señorita_, the Chalices, _por favor_," but Angelica hesitated in handing over the Chalices. The Spaniard then looked over to one of his men as the soldier grabbed the items from Angelica's hands forcefully.

"Only God can grant eternal life," said the Spaniard as he held up the Chalices, one on each hand, "not this pagan waters." He then proceeded to throw the Chalices to the ground and stomped on them, before throwing it into the deep pools. "Men!" he shouted, "Destroy this profane temple!"

The Spanish army then started destroying the temple around the Fountain, but the zombie officers of Blackbeard was not ready to give up without a fight. But, unfortunately for them, the Spanish used a huge pillar of stones to fall down on them, killing them finally in the process.

Meanwhile, the leader confronted Blackbeard, drawing out his sword from its sheath. "You are a fool. You seek on this place what only faith can provide," he said. In hearing faith being mentioned, the pirate couldn't help but make a reply.

"Faith," Blackbeard started, "In faith there is light enough to see, but darkness enough to blind." Unknown to him that Barbossa had managed to stand up without his crutch, and swooped down his poisoned blade on Blackbeard's open hand.

The most feared pirate, having felt almost instantly the poison from the wound on his right hand, he slowly turned toward the man destined to kill him. "What devilry is this?" was the only thing that came out form his lips. Before he realized it, Barbossa run him through with the same sword.

"For the _Pearl_," whispered the privateer into the pirate's ear. "And for me son." He pushed Blackbeard away, the sword still in the pirate's gut. Olivia ran toward her husband, who greeted her in an embrace. Tears stung the corners of her eyes but she held it back. She would not cry over this victory they had. This is sweet revenge. Finally.

On the other hand, Angelica could do nothing but scream out to his father, as she run to his side. When she started pulling out the sword, Jack screamed out a warning, "Angelica, NO! It's POISON!" But he was too late, Angelica had cut herself in the process.

Barbossa turned away from his wife for a while to make his first and last words to the Latin girl, certain of himself that they would not meet again. "I'm not so much of a fool to take on Blackbeard without a _venomous_ advantage." To this Angelica could turn to the only person she knew she could turn to, "Jack..."

As Jack tried to search for the Chalices in the pools, the Spaniard turned to leave, making the sign of the cross as he surveyed the work done. Barbossa and Olivia then turned to the remaining members of Blackbeard's crew. As the privateer picked up the Sword of Triton, he claimed the crew and Blackbeard's ship, the _Queen Anne's Revenge_.

As they left, with the crew following close by, Olivia made one last look toward the Fountain, or at least what's left of it. Then to the father and daughter both battling for their lives.

When Angelica's gaze met her's, she found she couldn't voice out her reply._ My greatest apologies_, she said in her thoughts, then turned to catch up with the others, not daring to look back for a second time.

* * *

><p>Out in the beach, Barbossa took in the beautiful sight. A galleon floating afar, just waiting there to be taken over by her new captain.<p>

"The _Revenge_ is mine."

Ah yes, the feared ship, _Queen Anne's Revenge_. Blackbeard's ship, is now his to command.

He ordered for some of the crew to tell the rest aboard the ship about some changes in command and that they return with a longboat to take him and his wife aboard.

"And don't so much as think ye could leave us here," he warned them. "I have the ship at me will."

As the crew left, he turned to his wife, who apparently wasn't joining him on his glorious victory over the blackguard who took his ship and the reason why their son died. He frowned at this, watching her back and how she had her arms around her, as though she was cold or either seeking comfort from herself.

"What is it you be doin' here?" he approached her, only to be taken off guard by the tears in her eyes. He immediately took her into his arms, crushed her into his chest, felt her hands clawed at the front of his clothes as she sobbed out her answer.

"I...I'm sorry...I-I just realized...n-none of this c-changes the fact that...that...we still lost Victor."

"Damn ye, woman," he replied in a hoarse whisper, fighting off his own feelings. "Why do this t'me?"

Unable to make any response from her sobbing, she said nothing in return.

"Love."

The couple turned almost in unison toward the sound of an eerie, familiar female voice.

"Is a wonderful thing, yes?"

Both of them couldn't believe what they saw.

"Calypso." As the name left his lips, Barbossa was questioning the sea goddess through his gaze why she was there in their presence. Eventually, it was his wife who voiced out the question in his mind.

"What are you doing here? _Why_ are you here?"

"A gift," was the goddess' reply. Calypso then took a step toward her left to reveal a young boy standing behind her.

The boy had brunette hair, familiar blue eyes, and was looking awkward. There was nothing out of the ordinary from his clothes and he seem to look like by the age of twelve or thirteen.

"What is this?" questioned the brunette, stepping away from his husband to have a better look of the lad. "Who is this boy? And what do you mean by 'gift'?"

"Mum?"

If the boy's first words to them at that moment were anything but that, both Barbossa and Olivia wouldn't have been that entirely shocked from what they heard.

"Papa. Mum. It's me."

The boy was now teary eyed, and from how he kept swallowing, he seemed to be trying his best to hold back his emotions.

Olivia found herself kneeling on both knees, gazing at the boy in a new perspective.

The face did seem familiar, rather too familiar. Then she focused on the eyes. Those blue, steely eyes that looked just like that of Barbossa. Could it be?

"Victor?" she said, uncertainty in her voice. "My son? Is...Is that you? H-How-?"

But before she could manage to finish her next question, the lad ran toward her and wrapped his arms around her. He was now crying, tears running down on his cheeks while repeatedly saying "I'm back. I'm back. I came back."

Olivia, though still confused, hugged the lad closer to her. Calypso was a goddess after all. It is possible. Or else all this could only be a dream. But if that so she would never want to wake up. Again the tears came.

Still speechless, Barbossa could only look from the lad then back to the goddess. When his gaze finally rested on the Calypso, the only reply he had was, "A gift. Fo'h you'h services."

He turned toward the boy, this time Olivia was on her feet.

"Our son, Hector," she told him, this time it was as if she was all the doubts in her heart vanished. "Our son. He's alive. Come, my love, greet him."

Father and son hesitantly moved toward each other. When they came within two feet from one another, they stopped. Not one of them moved for several heartbeats until Barbossa reached out with a hand. When was the last time he felt this way before? The uncertainty, then a small hint of hope, then happiness.

By the time his fingers almost brushed the lad's dark brown hair (the same color as that of his mother) he surrendered completely to his instincts and not to the questions in his mind. He took the lad to him, one hand behind the lad's head while the other wrapped around the back.

His boy. His boy is alive.

Olivia joined her boys, wrapped her arms around them both. They were a family again.

As they moved away from each other to once again face the goddess, it was Barbossa who spoke. "Thankee."

The goddess only beamed her signature smile in turn. "You canna' lead you'h crew with dos clothes, Ba'hbossa."

Within a flash Barbossa's naval clothing turned into his old pirate clothes. The only missing piece was his plumed hat.

"Captain!"

Three heads turned toward Ezekiel, the oldest among Blackbeard's remaining crew.

"The longboat is ready." The old sailor stopped for a moment as he noticed Victor. "Who's the lad, sir?"

The small family of three turned to where Calypso was but found no one was no longer there.

Barbossa turned to the sailor as he wrapped an arm around the lad's shoulders. "Me son," he said. "No questions."

Moments later aboard the _Queen Anne's Revenge_.

The young Cabin boy came running toward the quarterdeck, a dark, wide brimmed, plumed hat in his hands. He immediately gave it to his new captain and said, "Sir, I found this below deck."

Barbossa knew the hat with one glance. He took it from the boy rather delicately with his fingers, his expressions almost emotional for a hardened pirate like him. He flipped it over then placed it atop his head covering his green bandanna, where it belonged. It was positioned at jaunty angle, just like the usual. Just as how he liked it.

For his first show of command as captain of the _Revenge_, he drew out the Sword of Triton from its sheath, sliced it through the air toward the direction of the bow and the entire ship jerked forward. The sails unfurled by itself and as soon as they were at a steady pace already, he sheathed back the sword. Olivia and Victor watched all this at one corner, leaving enough space for the patriarch of their small family to have his moment.

"Get crackin' you bloomin' cockroaches!" he cackled heartily. "The Crown served me well!" He brought out his letters of marque then proceeded to tear it into small pieces. "But now by the gods of sea and sky, make way for Tortuga!"

The entire crew cheered, not quite against the idea.

"Tortuga?" Olivia approached, one brow cocked up at her husband. "You intend to go to that place while your son is here with us?"

"He be a boy, woman," the husband replied, pulling the boy toward him, his arm around the boy's shoulders. "Besides, I'll not be gettin' him into trouble there. Tortuga be just a reward for the crew."

"I hope so." She smiled, arms crossed over her chest.

While Barbossa decided to have his son take over the wheel, with him watching over, Olivia realized that once you're a pirate, you'll always be one.

Just as how the song goes: _Yo ho, Yo ho, a pirate's life for me._

* * *

><p>Calypso' Island.<p>

"So, what is it that happened to Blackbeard?"

Davy Jones and Calypso sat by the beach, the sun had just started setting on the horizon.

"Him died. Him drank from de Fountain."

"But would it not have given him life?"

"Him been trick."

Jones nodded, his lips mouthing an 'ah'. "Sparrow. I do not doubt he's trying to re-claim his beloved _Black Pearl_ again. One way or another. And the girl?"

"She be alive, de years o' life she now have be taken from her fatha'."

Jones only nodded once more, turning toward the horizon.

Silence.

"And this mermaid...What of her?"

Though smiling, the goddess wasn't expecting the question from her lover.

"She be happy now," she replied. "As how I be with you."

**~ The End ~**


End file.
